PITTSBURGH, PA – Being stuck in traffic during your daily commute is annoying. But did you ever stop to think how much that commute costs? You might be flabbergasted by the amount.
EducatedDriver, an organization whose goal is to improve global road safety through education, calculated the lifetime commuting costs for nearly 100 cities across the country. The findings were startling: The average American will spend $108,727 on gas and vehicle maintenance costs associated with commuting while driving 173,203 miles to and from work in their lifetime.
For Pittsburgh, EducatedDriver found the commuting costs and distance traveled higher than average. The findings:
- The average lifetime commuting cost is $115,733.
- The average round-trip commute is 16 miles.
- The lifetime distance driven while commuting is 182,250 miles.
- The lifetime commuting cost of driving a sedan is $110,808; $119,009 in a minivan and $140,879 in an SUV.
How were the financial cost and total miles are driven commuting over a lifetime calculated?
EducatedDriver assumed the average person starts full-time work at 18 (some people start earlier, others a bit later). The average retirement age is 63 in the United States., which works out to a total of 45 years working a full-time job.
Working on the assumption most people work about 250 days per year, accounting for that week’s yearly vacation and time off, EducatedDrive calculated most people spend 11,250 days working and commuting over a career.
From there, the organization used data from the US Census Bureau on average daily round-trip commute distances as well as data from AAA on the total cost per mile of operating a vehicle (60.8 cents per mile for the average sedan when gas, insurance, and maintenance costs are considered).