The 10 worst US cities for commutes that cost you time and money

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The 10 worst US cities for commutes that cost you time and money

caltrain SAN MATEO, CA - NOVEMBER 15: Ian Griffiths, left, and Ben Keller, right, of the group Seamless Transit are photographed at a Caltrain station on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018, in San Mateo, Calif. The advocacy organization would like to see one transit agency for the Bay Area instead of the 27 different jurisdictions that currently govern bus, rail, and ferry operations. (Photo by Aric Crabb/Digital First Media/Bay Area News via Getty Images)

Aric Crabb/Digital First Media/Bay Area News/Getty Images

Two cities included in Lending Tree's top 10 ranking of the US cities with the most expensive commutes, San Francisco and San Jose, are serviced by the Caltrain.

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Your commute isn't just costing you a subway fare or the price of gas - commuting costs time, and time is money.

Online loan marketplace Lending Tree published a report on the most expensive commutes in the 100 largest cities in the US in October. Lending Tree posits that the cost of a commute can be calculated by assuming time commuting has the same worth as time spent working.

Consider a resident in New York, which Lending Tree ranked as the city with the fifth most expensive commute. Using Lending Tree's findings via 2017 Census Bureau data, the median annual earnings for a full-time employee in New York is $51,573; their hourly wage is $26. Now ,consider the mean time of commuting one way, 41.8 minutes. If you make $26 per hour at your job, and you spend 83.6 minutes daily on your round-trip commute, then your time wasted commuting is worth $37 of time you would have been working.

Five cities in California - Oakland, San Jose, Irvine, San Francisco, and Fremont - took top 10 spots in Lending Tree's ranking, with four of those cities being in the increasingly expensive San Francisco Bay Area.

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Here are the 10 US cities with the most expensive commutes per person, given commute time and salary.

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10. Oakland, California

10. Oakland, California

Median full-time earnings: $56,307

Hourly wage: $29

Average hours worked per week: 38.7

Mean commute time: 33.9 minutes

Daily cost of commute: $33

Annual cost of commute: $8,549

9. San Jose, California

9. San Jose, California

Median full-time earnings: $61,999

Hourly wage: $32

Average hours worked per week: 38.3

Mean commute time: 31.3 minutes

Daily cost of commute: $34

Annual cost of commute: $8,782

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8. Seattle, Washington

8. Seattle, Washington

Median full-time earnings: $72,052

Hourly wage: $37

Average hours worked per week: 39.2

Mean commute time: 28.3 minutes

Daily cost of commute: $35

Annual cost of commute: $9,016

7. Jersey City, New Jersey

7. Jersey City, New Jersey

Median full-time earnings: $57,152

Hourly wage: $29

Average hours worked per week: 39.9

Mean commute time: 36.5 minutes

Daily cost of commute: $35

Annual cost of commute: $9,062

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6. Washington, DC

6. Washington, DC

Median full-time earnings: $70,725

Hourly wage: $35

Average hours worked per week: 40.5

Mean commute time: 30.8 minutes

Daily cost of commute: $36

Annual cost of commute: $9,323

5. New York, New York

5. New York, New York

Median full-time earnings: $51,573

Hourly wage: $26

Average hours worked per week: 39

Mean commute time: 41.8

Daily cost of commute: $37

Annual cost of commute: $9,581

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4. Irvine, California

4. Irvine, California

Median full-time earnings: $80,944

Hourly wage: $42

Average hours worked per week: 38.3

Mean commute time: 26.8

Daily cost of commute: $38

Annual cost of commute: $9,818

3. Arlington. Virginia

3. Arlington. Virginia

Median full-time earnings: $82,357

Hourly wage: $39

Average hours worked per week: 41.8

Mean commute time: 29.1 minutes

Daily cost of commute: $38

Annual cost of commute: $9,938

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2. San Francisco, California

2. San Francisco, California

Median full-time earnings: $80,812

Hourly wage: $40

Average hours worked per week: 40.4

Mean commute time: 33.8 minutes

Daily cost of commute: $45

Annual cost of commute: $11,719

1. Fremont, California

1. Fremont, California

Median full-time earnings: $82,106

Hourly wage: $42

Average hours worked per week: 38.8

Mean commute time: 34.9 minutes

Daily cost of commute: $49

Annual cost of commute: $12,801

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