American workers spend an average of $6,736 each year just to show up at the office, according to a recent study by resume-building platform Resume.io.
Commuting accounts for more than 40% of the costs, or $2,751 a year, including public transit, gas, and other expenses. Another $2,598 a year comes from buying food and coffee.
More than half of workers (53.2%) said their office costs have risen over the past 12 months, compared to only 5.9% who said their costs have fallen.
Resume.io examined federal wage, commuting, fuel, and price data across the 36 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. It also surveyed 1,000 full-time office workers about their weekly spending on getting to work, parking, eating, and childcare.
Surprisingly, some of the country’s most expensive cities—including New York, Boston, and San Francisco—are among the least costly places to be an office worker, once local salaries are taken into account. Orlando, Florida, has the highest “commuting tax” relative to salary, followed by Riverside, California; San Antonio, Texas; Tampa, Florida; and Nashville, Tennessee.
In pure dollar terms, Austin, Texas is the most expensive city for commuters, costing them an average of $7,424 per year. The city has the longest average commute in the country. Riverside is the second-most expensive at $7,403, followed by Orlando ($7,351), Sacramento ($7,351), and San Francisco ($7,294). Las Vegas is the cheapest city to be a commuter, at just $5,588.
Along with money, going into the office also costs workers’ time.
Office workers spend an average of 184 hours a year commuting, the study found, equal to 23 full workdays, and an average of 43.4 minutes longer getting ready on an office day than when working from home, accounting for another 137 hours a year, or 17 workdays.
More than six years after the start of the pandemic, RTO policies remain hotly debated. But employers have continued to push for more face time. According to CBRE, 89% of U.S. companies now expect employees to come in at least three days a week, up from 78% in 2025, even as actual attendance often lags employers’ expectations.
Some companies have softened their RTO policies in response to employee pushback. Today, Barclays said that it would delay enforcement of its new hybrid work policy until the start of 2027.
