Many Utah residents live far from workplaces because housing closer to jobs has become unaffordable. Elana Vandermolen lives in Fruit Heights and commutes to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, taking about 30 minutes on good days and nearly an hour in rush hour after moving farther away following a house upgrade. Close to 450,000 Utahns commute at least 30 minutes one way, and more than 77,000 commute an hour or more. Some households choose more distant, cheaper housing to allocate money elsewhere instead of paying a premium to live nearer to work. Housing prices have jumped more than 25%.
Elana Vandermolen is "stuck" living in Davis County, but not because she doesn't like her neighborhood, where she's close to an orchard and hiking trails. Instead, it's because housing costs are too high closer to her work at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. So, she lives in Fruit Heights and commutes - around 30 minutes on a good day, but it takes nearly an hour in rush hour.
She's among close to 450,000 Utahns who commute at least 30 minutes one way to work. More than 77,000 of those people commute for at least an hour. Her commute used to be shorter, but upgrading their house eight years ago meant moving further away. "Just trying to find something affordable that met what we needed, we just had to keep going further and further north," Vandermolen said - and another move probably would mean looking in Ogden, another 20 minutes away from work.
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