How long is your commute?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello all! I am just curious as to how far you guys commute to your jobs. I am a new grad and I am trying to determine how far is "too far" as I continue my job search.

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Twenty miles, 16.5 early morning miles of it highway, on a w/e morning: 20-25 minutes.

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Fortunately, in my area, there's no need to drive more than 15-20 minutes to work. Working 12-hour shifts, I can't imagine driving an hour or more to work. The drive home in the morning would be the worst!

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Specializes in Orthopedics, Med-Surg.

My first job was about 8 miles/20 minutes. My second job was 18 miles/28 minutes. Fortunately I went against the flow of traffic for both jobs so while the majority of folks were headed in, I was headed out. Made the commute much easier.

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I made a mid life career change and graduated from nursing school in 2009 - the height of the recession. Over 100 job apps out and only one offer - 3.5 hours away from my established home in Colorado. For my first year (11 months, actually :), I drove to Wyoming to a critical access hospital near the border of Nebraska. I drove in on Thursday evening, I had a little garage apartment, and I would work Fri, Sat, Sun day shift. I got off at 1730 and was on the road by 1800 to return home. Getting a new job as a new grad is tough already, the recession made it near impossible.

I live in the mountains of Colorado in a town with a critical access hospital that is always in administrative turmoil, so my next job was a transfer to a hospital in the system I worked in Wy. It was 55 minutes to the parking lot from my house. I worked there for 1.5 yrs (1 yr on nights) and I did take a PRN position at the local hospital 7 (walking) minutes from my house.

Then the dam broke and I have been fortunate to work in my home town with 5 minute commutes for the last 3.5 years! I am so grateful.

I don't do acute care work anymore (first job was home care management and now working in addictions recovery), and I do miss the more intense cases. But as an older nurse, I feel fortunate to work close to home, make my own schedule, and to be appreciated for what I do.

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18 minutes. Used to take about 45 to come home, because of traffic. We moved and I started working all nights, so now I do the reverse commute, and it's awesome.

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Right now I'm 3 miles from my job. And had this job for 12 yrs. My previous job I was 30 mins away but it was mostly highway. I worked there 14 yrs. I would never want to be more than 45 mins out. Winter driving is not what I like to do. It also depends on the job. I worked mostly ED and could end up having to stay if it was busy.

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Specializes in OB/GYN, L&D, Inf Prevention, CM, QI.

I drive an hour each way every day, but I live in a rural area and the closest facility is about 45 minutes away. The pay scale to drive to a larger facility made the extra 15 minutes more than worth it.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
do your OWN research! what is comfortable for you! Stop relying on others to make you decisions.

Seems to me that this IS a form of research. She's asking: What do you do and how do you like it, how does it affect you? She's not asking, "What should I do?" She wants to hear the experience and opinion of others who have done varying commutes.

Nobody's making the decision for her.

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Specializes in Hospice.
do your OWN research! what is comfortable for you! Stop relying on others to make you decisions.

This IS research. OP is trying to determine what average drive times are-she hasn't asked for anything more than that.

We've all heard horror stories about people (not necessarily in Nursing) who travel 200-300 miles to their job because there's nothing closer and they can't or don't want to uproot their families.

I'm the first one to ask posters with questions to show their work, but this isn't that kind of question. She's asking for basic information, and I'm glad so many have helped with providing some.

She'll digest the information we have provided, look at her own situation, and make up her mind.

It's called an informed decision.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Parish Nurse, Hospice.

For the first 29 years of my nursing career, I lived less that 5 minutes from the hospital I worked at. I even made it to work in the "great snow of 82". My next job was with a hospice organization and we covered lots of territory. My 3rd and 4th jobs were each about 25-30 minutes away, depending on traffic. I figured since I had lived so close for so many years, I could drive a little bit. My job now is about 25 mins away, but I don't go in every day and time is not a big issue.

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Specializes in Surgical,acute medicine and Endoscopy.

It takes me one and a half to 2 hours to commute to and from work. After nearly 9 years i am looking for another job closer to home.:Frankenstein:

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Specializes in Hospice, Geriatrics.

That's a very personal thing. How desperate is one for a job? It's also not how far as in how many miles, but it's how long as in how many minutes does it take to get there. Do you travel once there? I live in Atlanta. My job is 16 miles away but it can take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to get there. I used to work 48.5 miles away and it took me between 45 and 75 minutes to get there. Just depends. Weather. School months. Sometimes leaving 5 minutes too early or too late can add 20 or better minutes to a commute time. UGH.

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