The cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver and Mihwaukee. But NYC and SanFran also mentioned in passing.
What I find amusing, is mean commute times. I know a number of folks that live in the Atlanta and Boston areas, and they would love a 30-minute commute. I think that NYC claims a 27-minute mean commute, but everyone that I know that commutes (and I know a lot of folks that commute; both by car, and by rail), take 90 minutes to two hours.
I think they must include [very expensive] suburbs right on the city limits, to get those means; when the affordable housing is out in the bedroom communities; usually 20-50 miles away.
Also, if the commute is supposed to end at the city limits, or some fixed point, downtown, it's leaving out a significant amount of time. It can take two hours to drive from the Queens/Nassau border, to the Hudson (on a bad day -usually, it's an hour). Subway rides take a certain time, too. These are affected by proximity to stations, and how many stops a train makes.
When I lived in Manhattan, I had a ~35 minute commute by subway. I read a book every week or two, and it was far more productive than anything that happens in a 20 minute drive by car. My commute now is roughly 20 minutes, driving... and it's very stressful.
Beyond 1 hour, the time lost has greater impact on your life (socializing, household chores, family time, etc). Even still, I'd rather 90 minutes in a train than 60 behind the wheel.
Really just shows how different people's experiences are based on location and density
When I was commuting downtown in Calgary, it was either paying for parking downtown and a 20-30 minute drive, or a 60-90 minute transit ride depending on which bus I caught
A 20-30 minute driving commute is basically the norm here. Unless you live quite outside the city.
> Even still, I'd rather 90 minutes in a train than 60 behind the wheel
The tradeoff between transit and driving has never been within 30 minutes for anywhere I've lived, personally. It's always 40+ minutes difference, and that's assuming your bus even shows up on time
Very few HN folks seem aware of what average mensch suburban commute times are like. I've been flat-out called a liar, when I mention what is common knowledge, all over Long Island, that commutes into the city truly suck. It's on the news. It's in the newspapers. It's a standard topic of discussion at social events. Everyone just knows it. I live in the Huntington area, which is around 40 miles from Manhattan. There's no way, even with a Lamborghini, that I'll make it to Manhattan from here, in less than 40 minutes. During COVID, that was briefly possible.
My daily commute, for over 20 years, was north-south (on Long Island), ten miles (16Km). It took exactly 30 minutes, each way.
But someone made a statistic (I suspect commissioned by folks trying to sell suburban real estate), that it takes 27 minutes to get to Manhattan, and I guess we're numbers people, so the number always wins.
> "Lies, damn lies, and statistics"
-Mark Twain
It seems you haven't discovered podcasts yet :)