These Are The Worst Southern California Commutes I've Ever Seen

Any time someone talks about how EVs have more than enough range for the average American driver, I get irked. It's a statement that generalizes American drivers and fails to take into account those of us who don't live in a convenient area. Just because someone has a 20 or 40 miles round trip commute in New England or less than that somewhere else doesn't mean that's the case everywhere. Take my home region of Southern California.

A variety of factors have come together to create a region of super commuters who have some of — if not the — longest commutes in the country. Years of rising housing costs forced millions of people to move from the L.A. and Orange County areas to Inland communities. All the well-paying jobs, however, stayed in L.A. and Orange County, forcing these people to drive back to work in the areas they left due to a lack of affordable housing.

As the years have gone on, rising housing costs have reached inland, forcing people to move even farther east while jobs have stayed put. Millions of drivers spend 2-3 hours in traffic just to get home. I used to be one of these people. Just a few years ago I had a 164 miles round trip commute into L.A. from inland. And that's not the worst.

The following slides detail some of the worst commutes I've heard of here locally. All of these were collected by me asking various drivers here in Southern Cali if they had or knew anyone who had long local commutes.

The routes shown here are the most direct, fastest routes.

This is one that's personal to me, as this is the commute of my girlfriend's best friend. He recently traded in his car for a Tesla Model 3 because the cost of gas was hitting him bad. This commute was costing him $700/month in gas.

This was the commute of someone who had just gotten a job in Culver City and wanted it so bad they were willing to drive this every day for it. They did this drive for two weeks before they gave up.

The commute here was done by someone's college friend's father. The man was the principal of a high school in South L.A. but lived in the High Desert.

This commute was done by a coworker of the person that I spoke to. The job wasn't high paying, and the person did this drive daily in a Ford Super Duty. I mean... I'm at a loss for words.

This commute was only done twice a week by someone's manager. But still, it's far. The manager also apparently drove a huge SUV that wasn't good on gas.

While not as bad as it's only 94 miles, imagine having to sit in the 405 freeways' legendary traffic every day. Someone did this every day for eight years.

This commute was done by a coworker of the person I spoke with. They drove this daily for over five years.

Orange County to deep in the San Fernando Valley is a brutal drive. What makes this drive worse is that it was done nearly 30 years ago just after the Northridge earthquake decimated local freeways and roads. The person did this drive for six months before they moved closer to make the drive easier to swallow.

I hadn't even heard of Cherry Valley before this. But apparently, it's a small area nestled near the San Bernardino National Forrest, halfway to Palm Springs. This person said their commute was fueled by love and low gas prices.

This person actually hadn't taken the job yet. They said that they were mulling it over due to the commute. It was a life-changing opportunity, and they'd only have to do it four times a week. But nearly 200 miles four times a week is way too much. Even for a life-changing opportunity.

This one was a doozy. Another personal one of mine, it was done by a woman my mother knew. What didn't make sense was that the lady made excellent money, enough money that she could've moved closer. But she never did.

This one is from my consumer lending days. One of my company's customers lived in Hemet, which has quickly become a local bedroom community for supercomputers who moved to the city for its cheap(ish) housing and work to the west. She worked at L.A. Metro downtown and told me she had been doing this for over five years already.

This person got lucky, as this commute didn't last long. They only had to do it for three months until they found a place in Irvine to move into. Nevertheless, it was still brutal while it lasted.

This is the commute of one person's coworker. They described them as always looking dead tired, and it's easy to see why. Sadly, this person didn't last long on the job and quit as it usually took him three hours to get home.

This commute is done by someone's best friend. Weirdly, the person seems to have no problem driving nearly 250 miles every single day.