I'm a someone who "likes"[1] going in to the office.
However, commuting is expensive[2] and, more importantly to someone with significant introversion, interacting so closely with people in person all day is mentally exhausting.
To me, that's about $10/hr. I don't place much value in having the freedom to live anywhere I want, since I already do. The added freedom to travel is appealing but heavily moderated by the need to ensure a suitable workspace with reliable, high-enough bandwidth connectivity wherever I go.
[1] Finds value in the structure and face-to-face communication
[2] Especially if one includes time. A 45-mile one-way driving commute would need about $10k/yr in salary to offset the after-tax out-of-pocket expenses. If that's from the South Bay to San Francisco, it's an hour each way, adding 23.5% to the time away from home (assuming a half hour lunch). Caltrain is a bit better, but, unless one lives and works at a station, it will cost more than just the $2500/yr in monthly tickets. One can work on the train, but there's still at least 15-30 minutes at each end getting between home/work and the train seat, at best a 12% savings in workday length.
However, commuting is expensive[2] and, more importantly to someone with significant introversion, interacting so closely with people in person all day is mentally exhausting.
To me, that's about $10/hr. I don't place much value in having the freedom to live anywhere I want, since I already do. The added freedom to travel is appealing but heavily moderated by the need to ensure a suitable workspace with reliable, high-enough bandwidth connectivity wherever I go.
[1] Finds value in the structure and face-to-face communication
[2] Especially if one includes time. A 45-mile one-way driving commute would need about $10k/yr in salary to offset the after-tax out-of-pocket expenses. If that's from the South Bay to San Francisco, it's an hour each way, adding 23.5% to the time away from home (assuming a half hour lunch). Caltrain is a bit better, but, unless one lives and works at a station, it will cost more than just the $2500/yr in monthly tickets. One can work on the train, but there's still at least 15-30 minutes at each end getting between home/work and the train seat, at best a 12% savings in workday length.