How much of your salary would you forgo to work from home?

Some researchers posed the question, “How much of your salary would you give up to not have to commute?”   Virginia ranks #10 on the list of states where people would give up $10,000 in salary to work from home.   The commute times are nothing to sneeze at.  The average is 330 hours per year.  Maybe more for people in THIS part of Virginia with our DC commuters crawling along on I-95.

The only downside I’ve seen to working from home is that my wife is a very social person.  She loves her co-workers and while she talks with them on the phone regularly and even on an occasional video chat, it’s not quite the same as seeing them every day.  If you’re wondering what kind of money other states would forgo to avoid the commute, California is in the lead where workers would give up $13,759 to not commute.  Washington is 2nd and $13,017 and Utah at $12,843.

I know commuting in California is ridiculous.  I know people who work there and have to plan on 2 hours or more for each visit to a client for a typical meeting.  With so many people hating the commute, I guess that’s why so many companies are offering flexible schedules where workers get the option of a day or two each week to work from home.  If you want to see more of their study, here’s the link [email protected]

My wife has been working from home for just over 2 years, and while her commute is a snap (it’s just down the hall), she HAS to get out of the house now and then.  I used to go to the hardware store by myself, as well as going to car shows, aviation events and more but now, she’s up for going along to just about anything.