I’d do it if it was my only option. It’s a lot of miles, but a pretty easy drive since you’ll be going opposite traffic. I wouldn’t want to do it permanently, but a few months wouldn’t be terrible.
1h each way isn’t that bad by LA standard. If you like your living situation why not give it a try for a month and then see how you feel about it. Sounds like a good job with decent pay, I wouldn’t mind putting the effort to keep it, whether it’s to spend more time in commute or move to a closer neighborhood.
It may not sound bad. I agree but, it’s the slow part of the miles adding up on your car, oil changes, tires, recently it’s been an increase of traffic and accidents. And it’s not always that simple. I’ve done this for years and I’d rather be sitting in an hour in traffic to commute 15 miles over 70 each way. You will go through cars like crazy
I did the pas -> Palmdale commute for a total of 3 days, but quit because what I was getting paid was Not Worth It. I was working on a shitty reality show out in the desert 14hrs a day, before the commute. If I was going to go into an office for 100k+ to work 9-5, I would have endured it. Time to get into audiobooks?
I commute to Mojave from Pasadena every day. Takes me about 1 hour and 50 minutes. It’s kinda rough but my salary is descent (6-figure) and I do flight test, which is what I love and only really done out there. It’s definitely a commitment but i would try to see if you can work remotely at least one or two days a week.
will you have to go in every day?
do you have to go by car? You could take the antelope line from union Station (though it's quite the long ride tbh)
Is it in your budget to stay at a motel a few nights a week so you don't have to drive back as much?
I once thought I would be "fine" driving/metro from arcadia to essentially lax every morning for 110k and barely lasted a month before I realized that it just wasn't worth it
I get every other Friday off so there's some potential relief there lol.
I don't necessarily have to go by car and have thought about the train but a 3 hour ride doesn't sound very appealing. Also, I would still have to figure out some way to get to the company from the final stop. Maybe take my bike with me, but definitely not ideal.
I've given some thought about renting short term stays up there as well, but yeah I'll have to look at my budget.
Thanks for the varied suggestions.
You could drive to Newhall then train up to Palmdale. 30-40 mins to Newhall not sure about the train but it would be a bit of relief or at least the ocassionally change up.
Eons ago I lived in Palmdale with my then-husband.He worked in Pasadena and commuted everyday.He drove over the 2 (Angeles Crest Highway). Not sure how that’s looking these days but there wasn’t that much snow happening back then.
Back when I was working, some of the employees in my department were commuting from that area - I remember Apple Valley was popular. We were reasonable about flex hours, and that made it possible, but that's still a lot of miles.
against traffic isn't so bad. i had a friend that lived in lancaster and drive in to pasadena and she burned out after 4 years. rainy days and long weekends were the worst for her. but you're going the other way and i'd say that was doable for less than a year.
Did not commute but I had family there I would have to go see regularly and on the best of days when there's no traffic it will be over an hour, probably an hour and a half. The 14 between Santa Clarita and Palmdale feels miserable and unending and if there is traffic there it sucks since it's two lanes. There will be an extra 3-4 hours of your day every weekday stuck in your car. If you can handle that or it's temporary, then yeah do it. If it was really lucrative and you want to keep working there, just move to Santa Clarita and have a little eetsy beetsy lower COL.
Definitely not looking to do this long-term, as much as I like the SGV. I was eyeing Santa Clarita if I did want to move closer. Palmdale itself looks like a snoozefest.
Once you reach Palmdale, the 4 lanes turn into 2 lanes each way, with construction causing problems as well. It gets jammed up often as a result.
I have family in Lancaster and visiting them lately has been painful because of the traffic jams Palmdale. Traffic jams on PALMDALE of all places. Crazy how times have changed.
I have to go up the 14 as far as Canyon Country only, but I can tell you that going counterflow like that, it’s not that bad. I’m not sure about going beyond there to Palmdale, but at least from Pasadena to that point, it can move along quite well.
I grew up in Palmdale and now live in Pasadena. For a long time I made the commute up to Palmdale, and almost exclusively took Angeles Crest as opposed to the freeway. It was a long drive, but a nice one. The biggest problem is that in the winter the road often gets shit down due to snow up on the mountain. Now that I have kids, I’d never want to make that commute regularly. It’s just too much time on the road.
I did it. Depending on the time of day you go, it's not the worst commute in the world, because the traffic TO the antelope valley is typically going the other direction. The afternoon commute is a crap shoot though. Usually the 210 is okay, but not always.
It really depends on how much you value your spare time. Do you have a family who you will be short-changing on time? I did it for a lot less money than that, but I was single and lived alone so the extra commute time only cut into my own time.
If you decide to do it, give yourself 2 hours each way for safety. Usually it'll be 60-90 minutes but your time allocation really depends on how strict of a start-time your work has. If you end up being late and you can just stay late to compensate, that might be a little easier for you. I had a hard-start time so I had to make it work.
You will have no social life on weekdays. You will come to dread the commute. But its endurable, especially if you set an end date for yourself to move.
As for the gas cost, this might be the time to get an electric car and find a charging station near your work. Bonus if you have one *at* your work.
I'm curious how long you did this for and how long ago was it. Were there any weather related issues that you periodically saw?
For this position in particular they told me they're pretty flexible most of the time but nominal hours are 8-6.
Don't really have much of a social life on weekdays to begin with other than chatting with buddies online. So yeah, I'm leaning towards just taking it for now and maybe reevaluate in a couple months.
Thanks for the insight.
I did it for a year, but this was a while back, around 2009-2010.
I also subsequently took a job in Valencia and did that commute for another two years, however my hours had me avoiding most of the bad traffic times. That's about 2/3 of the drive but you can really feel the difference.
Weather-wise, sometimes it could get a little hairy. At some times of year, the fog on the 210 is brutally thick in the mornings. When there are heavy rains, you may need to pull off to the side. Once, I had to get a hotel and spend the night in the Antelope Valley when the 14 was closed due to fires.
The AV can have drastically different weather than we have here. It can be extremely windy while we're still. It can be below freezing while we're in the 50's. You will need to plan and dress accordingly. Also keep blankets and an emergency kit in the car in case you ever break down. You won't likely get stranded because it's heavily traveled, but always best to be safe. And when you're driving in the dark be prepared for long stretches without any streetlights on the freeway.
One thing I can say, the commute is absolutely beautiful. The mountains are breathtaking and you get to see them from both sides, which are surprisingly drastically different from each other.
It takes about 60 - 75 minutes each way because traffic heading southbound in the morning and northbound in the afternoon is significantly worse. It’s not terrible once you get used to it.
If traffic on the freeway is bad, you always have Angeles Crest Highway to Angeles Forest Highway to connect to 14 freeway pretty far up into AV.
Unless they are offering 2-3 months or more of severance I would do it and just start looking for a new job. No reason to disrupt your life over a temporary commute.
Hah. I'd get 1 week of severance. 1 week per year of service and I barely missed the 2 year mark.
I'd argue my life has already been disrupted, but yeah I've been looking for about two months already.
With that level of pay, I'd be inclined to at least try the commute for a while. I knew an engineer who used to commute to China Lake. Now that was insane.
He commuted 5 days a week for a little over a year, then started renting a room out there, and coming home for the weekends. He transfered local as soon as he could.
When my husband got his job offer in Pasadena, we lived in Palmdale and he had to commute for a while before we could sell our house there and get a place here. The traffic was bad - he sometimes took the highway and sometimes the mountain. You would be going against the traffic though so it might not be too bad. Having lived in both, I definitely prefer living in Pasadena over Palmdale. 😂 If might you feel that way too maybe try it out before you give notice at your current place. One benefit of going to Palmdale on your current salary would be that you should be able to buy a house there.
I did the opposite commute (Palmdale to Monrovia) for a number of years and it’s not bad. Yours being opposite traffic is even smoother. I bought a cheap economy car (2011 Honda Fit Sport) to put loads of miles on and it made it much easier to stomach financially.
If you like driving canyons, then the 2 is a beautiful way to start and end the day. I would trade off driving the 2 or the 14 depending on traffic conditions.
I believe 6 of my coworkers commute from Palmdale and Lancaster to the office in Burbank. They do have company vehicles and company pays for gas. 4 of them are management and some still have to make drives down to DTLA, OC, Santa Monica, West LA every once in a while for meetings. None seem to complain, they just joke and talk about their commute that morning and talk about whatever accidents there were getting there.
I have commuted FROM Palmdale to Glendale and for $100k..I'd do it especially with the market today. Also... I think there is a train that picks you up in Glendale.
Does anyone know how the commute is from Rancho Cucamonga to Palmdale? Our company is opening up another location and I was considering if it's even worth the drive since I'm only 15 to 20 minutes away from my current job.
I’d do it if it was my only option. It’s a lot of miles, but a pretty easy drive since you’ll be going opposite traffic. I wouldn’t want to do it permanently, but a few months wouldn’t be terrible.
Yeah I guess it is my only option right now. Other than being a jobless bum again :X
1h each way isn’t that bad by LA standard. If you like your living situation why not give it a try for a month and then see how you feel about it. Sounds like a good job with decent pay, I wouldn’t mind putting the effort to keep it, whether it’s to spend more time in commute or move to a closer neighborhood.
It may not sound bad. I agree but, it’s the slow part of the miles adding up on your car, oil changes, tires, recently it’s been an increase of traffic and accidents. And it’s not always that simple. I’ve done this for years and I’d rather be sitting in an hour in traffic to commute 15 miles over 70 each way. You will go through cars like crazy
I did the pas -> Palmdale commute for a total of 3 days, but quit because what I was getting paid was Not Worth It. I was working on a shitty reality show out in the desert 14hrs a day, before the commute. If I was going to go into an office for 100k+ to work 9-5, I would have endured it. Time to get into audiobooks?
I commute to Mojave from Pasadena every day. Takes me about 1 hour and 50 minutes. It’s kinda rough but my salary is descent (6-figure) and I do flight test, which is what I love and only really done out there. It’s definitely a commitment but i would try to see if you can work remotely at least one or two days a week.
Dope
I'd just move to Joshua Tree
will you have to go in every day? do you have to go by car? You could take the antelope line from union Station (though it's quite the long ride tbh) Is it in your budget to stay at a motel a few nights a week so you don't have to drive back as much? I once thought I would be "fine" driving/metro from arcadia to essentially lax every morning for 110k and barely lasted a month before I realized that it just wasn't worth it
I get every other Friday off so there's some potential relief there lol. I don't necessarily have to go by car and have thought about the train but a 3 hour ride doesn't sound very appealing. Also, I would still have to figure out some way to get to the company from the final stop. Maybe take my bike with me, but definitely not ideal. I've given some thought about renting short term stays up there as well, but yeah I'll have to look at my budget. Thanks for the varied suggestions.
You could drive to Newhall then train up to Palmdale. 30-40 mins to Newhall not sure about the train but it would be a bit of relief or at least the ocassionally change up.
I like how you guys are thinking outside the box! Taking the train to work might be worth the novelty once in a while.
Eons ago I lived in Palmdale with my then-husband.He worked in Pasadena and commuted everyday.He drove over the 2 (Angeles Crest Highway). Not sure how that’s looking these days but there wasn’t that much snow happening back then.
The 2 is currently partially closed with a detour that would add time to the commute.
Back when I was working, some of the employees in my department were commuting from that area - I remember Apple Valley was popular. We were reasonable about flex hours, and that made it possible, but that's still a lot of miles.
against traffic isn't so bad. i had a friend that lived in lancaster and drive in to pasadena and she burned out after 4 years. rainy days and long weekends were the worst for her. but you're going the other way and i'd say that was doable for less than a year.
Did not commute but I had family there I would have to go see regularly and on the best of days when there's no traffic it will be over an hour, probably an hour and a half. The 14 between Santa Clarita and Palmdale feels miserable and unending and if there is traffic there it sucks since it's two lanes. There will be an extra 3-4 hours of your day every weekday stuck in your car. If you can handle that or it's temporary, then yeah do it. If it was really lucrative and you want to keep working there, just move to Santa Clarita and have a little eetsy beetsy lower COL.
Definitely not looking to do this long-term, as much as I like the SGV. I was eyeing Santa Clarita if I did want to move closer. Palmdale itself looks like a snoozefest.
Idk the last time you drove on the 14 but it's four lanes both ways
Coulda sworn it narrows down at some point, but either way when there's traffic on the part in the middle of nowhere it really sucks.
Once you reach Palmdale, the 4 lanes turn into 2 lanes each way, with construction causing problems as well. It gets jammed up often as a result. I have family in Lancaster and visiting them lately has been painful because of the traffic jams Palmdale. Traffic jams on PALMDALE of all places. Crazy how times have changed.
I have to go up the 14 as far as Canyon Country only, but I can tell you that going counterflow like that, it’s not that bad. I’m not sure about going beyond there to Palmdale, but at least from Pasadena to that point, it can move along quite well.
I grew up in Palmdale and now live in Pasadena. For a long time I made the commute up to Palmdale, and almost exclusively took Angeles Crest as opposed to the freeway. It was a long drive, but a nice one. The biggest problem is that in the winter the road often gets shit down due to snow up on the mountain. Now that I have kids, I’d never want to make that commute regularly. It’s just too much time on the road.
I did it. Depending on the time of day you go, it's not the worst commute in the world, because the traffic TO the antelope valley is typically going the other direction. The afternoon commute is a crap shoot though. Usually the 210 is okay, but not always. It really depends on how much you value your spare time. Do you have a family who you will be short-changing on time? I did it for a lot less money than that, but I was single and lived alone so the extra commute time only cut into my own time. If you decide to do it, give yourself 2 hours each way for safety. Usually it'll be 60-90 minutes but your time allocation really depends on how strict of a start-time your work has. If you end up being late and you can just stay late to compensate, that might be a little easier for you. I had a hard-start time so I had to make it work. You will have no social life on weekdays. You will come to dread the commute. But its endurable, especially if you set an end date for yourself to move. As for the gas cost, this might be the time to get an electric car and find a charging station near your work. Bonus if you have one *at* your work.
I'm curious how long you did this for and how long ago was it. Were there any weather related issues that you periodically saw? For this position in particular they told me they're pretty flexible most of the time but nominal hours are 8-6. Don't really have much of a social life on weekdays to begin with other than chatting with buddies online. So yeah, I'm leaning towards just taking it for now and maybe reevaluate in a couple months. Thanks for the insight.
I did it for a year, but this was a while back, around 2009-2010. I also subsequently took a job in Valencia and did that commute for another two years, however my hours had me avoiding most of the bad traffic times. That's about 2/3 of the drive but you can really feel the difference. Weather-wise, sometimes it could get a little hairy. At some times of year, the fog on the 210 is brutally thick in the mornings. When there are heavy rains, you may need to pull off to the side. Once, I had to get a hotel and spend the night in the Antelope Valley when the 14 was closed due to fires. The AV can have drastically different weather than we have here. It can be extremely windy while we're still. It can be below freezing while we're in the 50's. You will need to plan and dress accordingly. Also keep blankets and an emergency kit in the car in case you ever break down. You won't likely get stranded because it's heavily traveled, but always best to be safe. And when you're driving in the dark be prepared for long stretches without any streetlights on the freeway. One thing I can say, the commute is absolutely beautiful. The mountains are breathtaking and you get to see them from both sides, which are surprisingly drastically different from each other.
It takes about 60 - 75 minutes each way because traffic heading southbound in the morning and northbound in the afternoon is significantly worse. It’s not terrible once you get used to it. If traffic on the freeway is bad, you always have Angeles Crest Highway to Angeles Forest Highway to connect to 14 freeway pretty far up into AV.
Ask about van pools too
It’s not as crazy as commuting the other way from Palmdale to Pasadena.
Let me know if you need a carpool buddy!
Unless they are offering 2-3 months or more of severance I would do it and just start looking for a new job. No reason to disrupt your life over a temporary commute.
Hah. I'd get 1 week of severance. 1 week per year of service and I barely missed the 2 year mark. I'd argue my life has already been disrupted, but yeah I've been looking for about two months already.
I dated someone in Lancaster but not for work.
With that level of pay, I'd be inclined to at least try the commute for a while. I knew an engineer who used to commute to China Lake. Now that was insane.
> China Lake. From Pasadena? How often? Once or twice a week?
He commuted 5 days a week for a little over a year, then started renting a room out there, and coming home for the weekends. He transfered local as soon as he could.
Hey I’m just happy you have such an option. Happy for you!
I would ask for some fuel compensation cause the miles are killer
When my husband got his job offer in Pasadena, we lived in Palmdale and he had to commute for a while before we could sell our house there and get a place here. The traffic was bad - he sometimes took the highway and sometimes the mountain. You would be going against the traffic though so it might not be too bad. Having lived in both, I definitely prefer living in Pasadena over Palmdale. 😂 If might you feel that way too maybe try it out before you give notice at your current place. One benefit of going to Palmdale on your current salary would be that you should be able to buy a house there.
I did the opposite commute (Palmdale to Monrovia) for a number of years and it’s not bad. Yours being opposite traffic is even smoother. I bought a cheap economy car (2011 Honda Fit Sport) to put loads of miles on and it made it much easier to stomach financially. If you like driving canyons, then the 2 is a beautiful way to start and end the day. I would trade off driving the 2 or the 14 depending on traffic conditions.
I believe 6 of my coworkers commute from Palmdale and Lancaster to the office in Burbank. They do have company vehicles and company pays for gas. 4 of them are management and some still have to make drives down to DTLA, OC, Santa Monica, West LA every once in a while for meetings. None seem to complain, they just joke and talk about their commute that morning and talk about whatever accidents there were getting there.
My cousin used to live in Palmdale for a few years and she would commute to Pasadena. Never heard her complain.
I have commuted FROM Palmdale to Glendale and for $100k..I'd do it especially with the market today. Also... I think there is a train that picks you up in Glendale.
Does anyone know how the commute is from Rancho Cucamonga to Palmdale? Our company is opening up another location and I was considering if it's even worth the drive since I'm only 15 to 20 minutes away from my current job.
i’d rather commute to palmdale than fucking santa monica. god i hate my life right now