There’s no shortage of scientific studies on the misery of the daily commute. Longer commutes have been linked to everything from higher blood sugar and cholesterol to lower happiness and less sleep.
The effects of a commute, of course, are more pronounced for those with the longest daily treks. And the length of your commute depends largely on where you live, with workers in big Northeastern metro areas often faring the worst.
Slideshow: The 10 Worst Commutes in the US
A recent analysis by Trulia found that New York City residents had the longest commute (34.7 minutes), followed by their neighbors in Long Island (33 minutes). Washington, D.C. residents had the third longest commute (32.8 minutes).
By comparison, the average commute for the nation is 27.2 minutes, and commuters in Buffalo, where commutes are the shortest, take an average of 20.3 minutes to get to work.
Short commute time or proximity to public transportation was the second-most important factor considered by Americans when deciding where to rent or buy a home, according to the Trulia report. (The most important factor was safety.)
Last year, Americans wasted more $160 billion -- or $960 each -- sitting in traffic, according to the 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
The report predicted the cost of traffic would only get worse, rising to $192 billion by 2020.
