Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Good And The Bad of Being First

Hey, we won!  And depending on your outlook this can be a good thing or a bad thing.

The Washington DC metropolitan area is now number one in the nation for number of hours spent in traffic in a year.

Yep, we beat perennial favorites Chicago and Los Angeles in being first for spending the most time in our cars commuting to work.

We average 74 hours [a little over 3 days] over the span of a year stuck in traffic. WOW!

Washington Post Article

Now, as awful as these statistics sound, let's look at the bright side.  It means our economy, in our part of the US, is doing just fine and there are a lot [A LOT] of people going to work each day.

As annoying as the traffic is, and we have had to factor traffic into all our plans for over two decades, [it is that bad], it is nice to know at least something good can be seen from it.

Then again - we still have one of the highest cost of living indexes in the US. Milk is 5 bucks and gas has not dropped below $3.90 yet.  Sigh.  And you can forget the housing market.  There may be millions of homes in foreclosure, but glad you have a job because a fixer upper dump still costs $350,000.00 USD.  Something you would actually want to move into starts at half a mil.

At least there are jobs to be had, eh?  Hope y'all have a great Tuesday.  See ya' on the flipside.

15 comments:

Tony Van Helsing said...

Better than being the murder or obesity capital I suppose.

Pearl said...

We're Number 1! We're Number 1!

:-)

The Minneapolis housing market is a steal. Luckily, I bought at the height of the bubble, so -- wait. Where was I going with that?

Not sure what MN is first at. Odds of freezing to death? Odds of never winning a Super Bowl?

Pearl

Jeannie said...

Our traffic here is not nearly so bad - although taking the "expressway" doesn't get you anywhere sooner - you just get to drive faster except when its a parking lot.

Our gas is now down to about $4.50/gallon (if my conversion is right). I think milk is over $5 except at Costco. But I could be wrong. We don't buy that much of it any more so I don't look.

Meat has gone way up in price - and lots of other things took a big jump a few months ago.

Your housing is more - the average house here costs about $300,000. I think. And it would be quite livable - basically about what I have. There's always something to fix up or change isn't there?

Apparently, our area is doing fairly well employment wise but I think Canada in general is in a slightly better state than the USA just now.

Rudee said...

Three days a year stuck in traffic? I think I'd lose my mind. It's too bad we can't be better at mass transit.

Teresa said...

cramming it all together to make 3 days stuck in traffic - makes the thought of it nauseating. i would not be a happy camper. but, i still spend nearly 2 hours every day in commute time; i just don't hit much traffic until i'm within 5 miles of work.

our gas just dropped to $3.19 per gallon (but still up more than $0.80 from this time last year). Milk (we buy in 1/2 gallon size) is $2.38. What amazes me is the cost of eggs and fresh produce. Terribly high to eat stuff that's good for you.

Tracy said...

Gas is $3.02 here. There is one benefit for living in an oil producing state.

And our town is always in the top 10 for best cities to live. Hate to say my commute is only 10 minutes.

Rebecca said...

i guess that's a good reason for being number one

Juli said...

Boston was voted #1 on the worst dressed list.

Guess I should be glad I live outside the city.

:)

Celia said...

I hope that does mean that the economy is getting better. There's so many people that can't catch a break.

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

Congrats on your #1 status for traffic, huh? It's awful in Atlanta, too. I didn't realize the cost of living was so high in the D.C. area, and don't remember it being that bad when we lived in B'more. The housing market fell into the toilet here, and prices and appraisals have taken a tumble, big time. It's possible to buy a very big home for a very low price now, but way too many people owe considerably more money on their houses than their assessed values.

that guy said...

@Pearl...#1 in lakes per sq mile...

where i live is number 1 in being boring....

Anonymous said...

My cousin works in D.C. and commutes from Maryland - the train alone costs her $15 a day!

And I will hold my second place title with price - go Chicago! :D

Anonymous said...

I meant PRIDE not price! :D

Anonymous said...

Congrats! :)

Greenmare said...

I gotta tell ya sweetcheeks, I love your blog. I don't get much internet time now with spending so much time studying and trying desperately to keep up with everything, but I love to stop by and read what you have to say, cause you are a breath of fresh air!
hugs!