Metro Boston ranks 15th in the nation for supercommuters

Supercommuting is on the rise. and Boston is jumping into the fast lane. Use your blinkah!

Did you know that 62,898 people in the Boston metro area traveled as long as 90 minutes each way to and from work in 2022? This tally, which accounts for 3 percent of all commuters here, is according to a report Apartment List, an online marketplace, published in late June. 

Supercommuting has become more prevalent in the post-pandemic era, the report says, and Boston ranked 15 in the nation for the number of people making that trek.

In June, the average weekday ridership on Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority lines stood at 793,619, a 5.6 percent year-over-year increase, according to MBTA records. About 45 percent of those rides were on the T, a decrease from 49% in 2023.

Generally, supercommuting is most common for transit users, workers who live on the fringes of the metropolitan area, or those who commute to separate metros entirely.

It is also most common in higher income brackets, where workers are more willing to endure long commutes to access higher-wage jobs.

The report, which used data from the US Census Bureau, states that the number of supercommuters in the United States jumped by nearly 600,000 in 2022, the largest single-year jump on record. 

Consequently, the total number of supercommuters in the United States stood at 3.7 million. 

“The rise of supercommuting is largely the result of worsening housing affordability in many of the nation’s most desirable housing markets,” said Christopher Salviati, senior housing economist at Apartment List.

Salviati said workers move farther away from metro areas in search of affordable housing at the expense of extremely long commutes because housing in the urban cores has become increasingly expensive. The median sales price for a single-family home in Greater Boston hit $961,250 in June, according to the Greater Boston Association of Realtors.

Hybrid work could also make supercommuting seem more appealing, he added. “A long commute is more bearable if it’s only undertaken two days per week rather than five,” he said.

Sowmya Balachandran, assistant professor at the Department of Urban Planning and Community Development at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said she is not surprised that supercommuting is growing, with most offices demanding workers be present at least three days a week. 

The correlation between wages and commute

The report also indicates that “workers are willing to trade lengthy commutes for higher incomes.” It establishes a relationship between income levels and length of commute, which in the post-pandemic era, has been affected by remote work. 

Salviati supports that finding, saying that supercommuters tend to earn above-average incomes both nationally and in Boston. “Workers are more willing to bear long commutes for high-paying jobs, where the pay feels like adequate compensation for the time they spend commuting.” 

There are low-income supercommuters as well, he added.

When it comes to low-skill jobs, Balachandran said, there has not been a large increase in terms of wages as a result of supercommuting. 

A product of housing affordability

Interest rates doubling in 2022 caused an increase in the house prices, said Edward Seiler, associate vice president of housing economics at the Mortgage Bankers Association, a national organization representing the real estate finance industry. This phenomenon, Seiler said, pushed people to go farther away from the metros to buy houses they could afford and wanted.

Seiler said another factor affecting the trend is that baby boomers often refinance their mortgages and have loans that are “almost like golden handcuffs” that have them staying put.

“They don’t want to move, so there’s a lack of supply for people to buy homes,” he said, which is pushing people farther away from city centers in search of property.

More of a curse, than a boon 

“Supercommuting is generally an undesirable trend,” Salviati said, noting that it negatively affects the environment and a worker’s mental health.

Balachandran added that this trend is problematic for people from economically and racially vulnerable communities. “Most of the lower-income populations also end up working more than one job … if they’re commuting this much, that means it does present undue cost burdens and health burdens.”

From an environmental perspective, she said, supercommuting is obviously not a good thing. “We still don’t have that much uptake in vehicles that are more fuel efficient, hybrids and electric vehicles.” 

This is consistent with the findings of the report, which indicated that “worsening commutes for drivers increase car-related expenses, impact physical health, and amplify the environmental consequences of suburban sprawl.” 

Boston.com readers respond

We asked our readers in a survey last week about their experiences with as supercommuters. Here’s a taste of the responses we received:

Denise R. of Providence said she commutes to Boston two to three times a week using a bus, a train, and the Green Line, which ends up being a two-hour trip each way for her. “For me, it is a way to balance the excitement and opportunities of being in a bigger city while still maintaining the community I’ve built in Rhode Island for over a decade.”

Another Boston.com reader called this entire situation “depressingly inefficient without any alternatives.” The Millis-based commuter, who travels about 90 minutes — a 20-minute drive followed by a 60-minute train ride and a 10-minute walk — said this is “unsustainable for most commuters.”

“No one wants to deal with this garbage. They are forced to,” a reader from the North Shore wrote.