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That's a fair point but most people are on a fixed salary and don't think of their time value as marginal. So for instance, if you're earning $50 an hour, you're earning 100k per year, and if you're on a salary, you may think of having a budget of 8.3k, pre-tax, or a little over 5k post-tax. So if you're spending an extra 1.9k on an apartment that cuts down your commute by 2 hours a day, that's money you're not spending on other quality of life things, including saving and paying down any debt. In this light, spending an extra 2k, despite it saving you 2 hours, doesn't seem as feasible.

Not all commutes are created equally; I would rather ride the subway for 45 minutes than spend 20 minutes in stop-and-go traffic.

>a 60 minute commute twice a day costs $1900 per month

Only if you're comparing it to a 0 minute commute, which isn't realistic.

You could have a five minute commute on foot, in which case it's more just much needed fresh air and daylight.