Would you turn down a £38k job offer to stay on £32k closer to home? Just did the maths on my commute...

[AlexCarter88]

I'm really torn at the moment and could use a sanity check. I've been offered a new role paying £38,000, which initially sounded like a great step up from my current £32,000 job. The catch is that the new office is a 50-minute commute each way by train, whereas my current workplace is only 15 minutes from home.

I sat down this morning to work out how much better off I'd actually be each month. Once tax and National Insurance take their chunk out of the extra £6k, and I subtract the monthly rail season ticket and extra travel costs, the £38k job literally leaves me with about £45 a month more in my pocket — in exchange for losing nearly 40 hours a month sitting on a train.

I actually ran both postcodes through the take-home pay and commute calculator on jobbri.co.uk just to double-check I wasn't going mad, and seeing the net monthly pay next to the door-to-door travel time really put me off accepting it. I'm now leaning towards turning it down and just looking for direct local employers closer to home.

Am I being silly turning down a higher salary on paper for the sake of a short commute, or would you stay put on £32k?

I wouldn't take it. £45 a month is not worth the extra commute time to me

No turn it down, there are other problems with a long commute!

Stay out - years ago when I left London I took an 8k pay cut to £24k and still had more in my bank account every month than before, and was much less tired from all the travelling and had more time.

I'd turn it down. By the time you add on all the extra stress commuting it isn't worth it unless it's got a lot of potential or you hate your current job

absolutely not worth it

For just over a tenner a week more? Definitely not.

It.would depend entirely on the job. If I was excited about it and it was a step towards the next one, I'd take it.

With the slight provisio on what my home situations was. I might not have done when DC were young.

Yeah I would value my free time and sanity (commuting hell) as far more than 45 quid a month.

The only possible reason I can conjur up is taking it to get up to the 38k mark and then looking for something closer to build on that. But honestly, I don't think I would bother.

Gosh no, definitely not.

The only reason to consider it, is if the new role is likely to be a stepping stone to something better.

If there's no more opportunity for progression and it's literally just the salary I wouldn't do it

No way is it worth it. It’s about 26 pence more per hour. Not worth it at all. I’d speak with the hiring manager or recruitment manager to say this makes no real material difference in your income and unless the salary could be between £40-42k then you are unable to accept as the additional commute and costs means the increase is taken by tax and travel.

Depends if it’s a temporary thing to help you step up to better pay & promotion elsewhere.

Absolutely not. The cost on your well-being will be much higher too

It depends on the job. If it’s a long term position no, if it’s shorter term and likely to open doors, perhaps.

If you have nothing to lose why not work out a figure that you would be happy with and see if they increase their offer.

Depends

What are the differences between the jobs apart from commute and salary?

You'd be earning an extra £1 for every hour long train journey.

It depends entirely on the job - is it a more senior post for the increased salary? does it lead somewhere more? It's a lot easier to go from 38k to 45k than from 32k to 45k - I think you need to think much more about the longer term and overall trajectory.
Although if it's a sideways move then sounds like there's not much benefit unless there are more future openings in the new company or they have a better reputation.

It’s definitely not worth it. Stay put

I can’t imagine I could love a job enough to commute an extra 10 hours a week for a tenner.

Depends what the salary progression opportunities are like at new place. But long commutes don’t bother me, for some they are deal breakers.

Thanks so much everyone for all the replies — reading through your experiences really confirms what my gut was telling me. I hadn't even factored in how often the trains are delayed or cancelled in winter, which would easily turn a 50-minute journey into over an hour each way. Definitely not worth losing 10 hours a week of life for £45 a month! I'm going to politely decline it and hold out for something closer to home.

Fwiw, I took a big promotion that required a commute longer than I felt was reasonable, but actually, commuting by train, having a nice walk to the station and a couple of hours a day to myself, to read in the train, was really good for me.

I suppose you'd also get a few more pounds into your pension but unless this new job is a promotion/opportunities for one then nope.

If everything else is identical then no I wouldn't take it but what about any bonus, employer pension contributions, other workplace benefits, also whether the role has progression or is a stepping stone to progression?