A larger slice of the American workforce is now living about twice as far away from corporate hubs than in the days before the pandemic, further complicating the national office market's struggle to regain its pre-COVID momentum.
The share of employees who live 50 miles or more from their primary workspace jumped sevenfold during the years since the pandemic struck, rising to 5.5 percent in 2023 from less than 1 percent in 2019, according to a study published by a group of Stanford University economists and Gusto, a payroll services provider. That jump comes despite a series of stricter in-person mandates that have required workers to commute to a physical office more regularly with the adoption of hybrid schedules.
The study focused on address data collected from nearly 6,000 employers across the United States. The Stanford economists studied employee and employer zip codes and found the average distance between a person's home and their office jumped to 27 miles last year versus about 10 miles in 2019.
Employee age, income level and hiring date also factor into how far away they tend to live from their primary workspace. Those in their 30s, whose average commuting distance climbed from about 10 miles in the years before the pandemic to upward of 30 miles by the end of last year, tend to live farther away from the office compared to their younger or older counterparts.
While the share of super commuters — typically defined as those who travel an hour or more for the initial leg of their commute — was climbing long before the years of the pandemic. The Stanford and Gusto study found workers hired after March 2020 tended to live farther away from their employer's office than others hired before the outbreak.
Income also plays a significant role in how far away an employee is from their corporate hub and how easily it is for them to work remotely. It is far easier for a typical white-collar worker in industries such as technology, finance, law, marketing or accounting to do their job from home compared to a bus driver or restaurant server where their presence is mandatory.