Workers in big cities save even more by avoiding the office. kali9 – Getty Images
Between a morning coffee, a subway ride, and a bowl of stale roasted vegetables, the cost of going to the office can skyrocket. That’s not just a drop in the bucket — workers in big cities are spending thousands of dollars less when working from home, according to the latest report from Work From Home Research.
The researchers asked respondents how much money they spent on meals, shopping, and entertainment near the office on a typical day in 2019, and calculated the average amount of work-from-home work from June 2022 to November 2022. This helped them to determine annual inflation. adjusted loss of spending per worker in the top 12 metropolitan areas.
Workers in New York City are seeing the largest reduction in spending, averaging $4,661 less per year. It makes sense – in times of high inflation, the Big Apple ranks as the most expensive city in the world. Meanwhile, Philadelphia workers are spending $2,161 less a year. Here’s how much the average worker saves by working from home in the top 12 metropolitan areas:
- New York, NY: $4,661
- Los Angeles, California: $4,200
- Washington, DC: $4,051
- Atlanta, Georgia: $3,938
- Miami, FL: $3,323
- San Francisco, California: $3,040
- Dallas, Texas: $2,869
- Phoenix, Arizona: $2,757
- Boston, MA: $2,539
- Chicago, Illinois: $2,387
- Houston, TX: $2,167
- Philadelphia, PA: $2,161
Metropolitan areas are more accepting of the remote work trend, considering they have larger numbers of knowledge workers and saw expanded pandemic restrictions — which the WFH researchers have dubbed it a “metropolitan phenomenon.” A working paper from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) states that remote work is often a benefit accorded to the “metropolitan elite”.
There are still cost trade-offs for working from home
WFH Research’s calculations only consider spending near the office. It doesn’t even take into account other expenses saved when working remotely, such as: B. buying fancy work clothes or cosmetics, Nick Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University and one of the researchers behind the report, told Fortune. Working from home can also save time and convenience, he added, e.g. B. being nearby to let in chores (like a plumber) and reclaiming time spent commuting.
But the money goes both ways, depending on a worker’s situation, he concedes. “If you work from home you save on gas and car bills, and if you work from home a lot you might need one less car,” says Bloom. “On the other hand, you pay more for heating, air conditioning and electricity at home. Eating and drinking can go either way depending on your previous work ethic.”
In fact, some telecommuters are cutting back on working from home, in part to save money on heating bills. In the first four months of last year, Americans spent about $23 more on electricity and gas bills than in 2019, according to data provided to Fortune by payments company Doxo.
But a day in the office now costs hybrid workers about $50 when billed for meals and transportation, research from Owl Labs shows. It’s no wonder, then, that inflation is still keeping many workers at home: days when they work remotely are slowly recovering, in part as workers seek to cut commuting costs and other office-related expenses like lunch.
“Many Americans are watching their household budgets closely right now, in the face of the economic crisis and inflation,” George Anders, senior editor of LinkedIn in general, told Fortune. “Working remotely often saves money because it reduces commuting costs to zero while also making lunch, coffee, etc. much more affordable.” It doesn’t help that many businesses are offering pandemic perks like free lunches or coffee in preparation for a potential recession have driven back.
As Frank Sinatra once sang about NYC, “If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.” The same could be true of remote work, which has proven to be a budgeting hack for employees in the city and elsewhere.
