Let me quote a study about happiness for you:
"The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting."
Apparently there are over 3.5 million Americans who spend more than three hours commuting each day, and a person with an one-hour commute has to earn 40% more money to be as satisfied with life as someone who walks to the office. What does that even mean? I guess if you were to quantify that, those three hour commuters have to make 120% more money? I'm sure that's faulty logic and it's pretty difficult to quantify happiness and opportunity cost. Nevertheless, it goes to show that commuting is injurious to daily well-being. I know my mother swears that she'll never return to commuting those 2 hours a day anymore. So when it comes to weighing the choices in real estate - they're saying the larger house in the suburbs does not outweigh the tortures of daily commute. Food for thought indeed...
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Along the same lines, I saw an infographic (my faves) on the amount of money various US cities spend on gas (and also commuting t0 an extent). Topping the list in the "Guzzlers" category is San Jose, California with $216/month and the lowest in the "Teetotalers" category is New York, NY at $102/month.
Sure this might be accurate when it comes to commuting by personal vehicle. However, if you look at the lowest cities - they consist of New York City, Brooklyn, Washington D.C., Boston, Denver, and Chicago. I'm willing to bet that many people in these cities commute just as long as those in San Jose but via public transportation. So would it be fair to say that people in NY and happier on average than those in San Jose? Ehh... I'd like to see if commuting by car (personal driving) vs public transportation have different levels of impact on happiness levels.
Either way, I know that if it ever came time to purchase a home, I'd be willing to sacrifice some space for convenience. To quote my friend, everything in life..."pros and cons, pros and cons!"
