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Commute Cost Planning: Round Trips, Workweeks, and Parking

Commuting costs become comparable to remote-work savings only when you annualize round trips and include parking or other daily fees.

Round trip, not one-way

Daily miles are usually twice the one-way distance. Forgetting the return trip halves fuel in the model.

Exclude PTO weeks

If you take four weeks away from the office, commuting weeks are closer to 48 than 52.

Reimbursement is a different question

Personal commute budgeting is not the same as employer mileage reimbursement. Use the reimbursement worksheet with the rate your policy allows, and look up current IRS standard mileage rates when that is the benchmark—rates are dated and user-entered here.