Last Updated on December 10, 2023
Finding your next home requires balancing a variety of considerations – plentiful neighborhood amenities, high-quality school districts, etc… And if you plan to live in a traffic-ridden urban or suburban area, a tolerable commute time is a significant deciding factor. In fact, a Realtor.com survey found a significant (85%!) of homebuyers would sacrifice other critical house features (i.e. square footage and lot size) for a shorter commute.
There’s a number of commuter radius map tools online. But only a few take into consideration rush-hour traffic patterns important to homebuyers. For those of us in major cities with traffic-prone areas, here’s 3 free commute radius maps to help you accurately narrow down the best places to buy your new home.
Why is Short Commute Important?
Commuting sucks. And research conclusively shows that commutes have negative health effects on people. Long commutes manifest a variety of physical and mental health effects – headaches, backaches, digestive problems, high blood pressure, sleep deprivation, lowered concentration.
Long commutes make for unhappy people.
Yeah, Ok, Captain Obvious.
But the following surprised me.
Studies also demonstrate that long-distance commuters report an increased risk of divorce. If one spouse commutes longer than 45 minutes, a couple is 40% more likely to get divorced.
Wow. That’s pretty serious, right????
So if you are considering a move (especially if in a committed relationship), ensure that you have a good handle on your comfort commuting level.
My Experience
When we moved into our first home in 2012, we were in love. We bought a smaller Foursquare-style house in the perfect geographical location in the suburbs north of Boston. It was located within 2 miles of two inter-state highways, yet still close enough to the town center that we could walk down for dinner and ice cream and enjoy watching the sunset near the lake on a summer night.
But then we were surprised by the addition of twin girls, and our little home is getting a bit crowded. An addition is a bit too tricky (and expensive) so eventually we will need to bite the bullet and move.
A major consideration is my husband’s commute. First, we live outside of Boston, which is ranked as one of the most congested cities in the U.S. (Lucky us, eh?)
Second, my husband has an admittedly low tolerance for traffic. He’s one of the easiest-going guys I’ve ever met (one of the many reasons I married him), but place him behind the wheel on a backup on I-95, and it’s not pretty.
So, we need a house that comes with a short commute, which translate to about 30 minute commute.
But how would we know which towns fell within that 30 minute drive time? We live in a complex road infrastructure, with two major highways nearby (with his office being right off the highway running north to south).
Sure, these highways are clear sailing during non-rush hours, but are complete gridlock during that 9-5 M-F grind. Should we strive to be closer to the highway or should we look more for towns that could connect to his work through backroads?
I have no idea.
[Yes, a realtor could help with our search, but since we are still only toying with the idea of moving, I’m not ready to engage a realtor and potentially waste their time.]
We need driving radius maps starting from a specific location (i.e. his office) showing us what would results in a 30-minute drive EVEN DURING RUSH HOUR.
Enter these Commute Radius Map tools….
What is a Commute Radius Map?
A radius map is a circular area drawn on a conventional map. You define a particular address or GPS coordinate. For purposes of this post on house-hunting, you will likely choose your work address. You then have the option to measure time or distance, although the purpose of this post is focused on time, especially rush-house traffic time.
Note that while this post is specific to using these commute radius maps for homebuyers, you can use these maps to determine proximity to hospitals, schools, or even use to plan your next road trip!
3 Free Commute Radius Maps for Homebuyers
Based on some research (aka goofing around on the internet), I found these 3 free commuter radius tools that apply a rush traffic factor to help us identify and narrow down our choice of towns or neighborhoods.
Note that I did check out the commute radius map tools listed below (free versions), but I couldn’t find a “rush-hour” filter (as of October 2023). And for those of us living in major cities who commute the usual 9-5, consideration of rush hour traffic is critical for calculating radiuses.
- CommuteTime
- Smappen
(BTW, if you know of another free tool, please reach out so I can add to the list).
How to Use Commute Radius Maps for HomeBuyers
The travel time maps below are very similar in that you enter in an central point (in this case, the location data of my husband’s office address) and toggle a few preferences such as commute time and mode of transportation.
The result? It spits out a graphic with a commute radius (sometimes a circle, sometimes a square) incorporating applicable neighbor and towns where you focus your real estate search.
Review of Commute Radius Maps
For some homebuyers, commute time can be a significant determining factor in where to buy a new home. If you fall into this category, these free commute radius tools for homebuyers will help you identify which neighborhoods to focus your new home search.
After taking these tools for a test drive, I found that Realtor.com is the easiest to use, especially since it was a one-stop shop for house hunting. However, TravelTime provides exhaustive options of inputs to produce a map specifically tailored to your commuting habits.
Both produced similar radiuses, but the radiuses weren’t identical. For your geographic area, there were differences in the east and west borders (i.e. one went out further than the other).
My recommendation? Try all of the tools to identify which neighborhoods to narrow in. And if possible, do a few test-drives from the neighborhoods on the fringe of the radius during rush hours (or when you usually commute) to confirm commute time.
Good luck!
1. Realtor.com
If you are in the market for a new home, you likely already have the Realtor.com app on your home. And a few years ago, Realtor.com added a new filter to its award-winning app for homebuyers – Commute Time.
You can search for homes within a specific commute time just like you filter out homes based on price range and number of bedrooms. Commute time can be filtered in 10-minute increments, and it also gives the ability to toggle between rush-hour and non-rush hour.
Pros
What I like about the Realtor.com app is that it pulls houses immediately within that commute radius to review. And because Realtor.com is reportedly linked closely to the association that manages the multiple listing service (MLS), this app reportedly pulls in 99% of MLS listings.
Here’s the biggest pro about this radius map. The other tools require a 2-step process or first creating a map and then taking that commuting radius map and needing to overlap on top of your realty app of choice (by eye-balling it).
However, Realtor.com combines this into a 1-step process. So when you develop your commuter radius map, you also see all the houses available within that radius on the market.
Pretty awesome in my book….
Cons
The downside of using the Realtor.com radius map is the inability to get into the weeds and narrowly define your commuting habits. For example, you will read below that TimeTravel allows you to enter the exact given time you need to be at work AND when you leave work (which might be very different traffic patterns).
Realtor.com merely uses a “with traffic” filter, which I couldn’t find information on what hours that entailed. And public transportation is not an option for mode of transportation. The only options on driving and walking.
Our Realtor.com Commute Radius
The filter on this app demonstrated to us how powerful it can be to find the right house. Without the traffic, our search results in 2019 indicated 76 potential homes within travel distance when we didn’t hit the “with traffic” option. However, toggling the “with traffic” filter withered the commute time map results down to 14 houses. Wow.
The same results happened in 2023, with 108 available houses without traffic, and only 19 with traffic in a travel time radius map. Yikes!
The resulting driving radius map in 2019 overlaid on Google Maps (below on left) was long and narrow – hugging the major highway running north and south near my husband’s office. The results suggested that we should stick closer to the highway and away from the east-west backroads, which was a bit surprising.
Based on my personal experience commuting in and out of downtown Boston, the highway has the most variable commute. The backroads running east and west tend to be a bit more predictable. But then again, the backroads do have lower speed limit. These data-driven maps gives us food for thought on where we should focus our house-hunting.
Unfortunately, the 2023 results overlaid on Google Maps (below on right) no longer delineate the radius, which is personally disappointing. I like seeing how the end points of the commute time map.
Click here to learn more about the Realtor.com app.
2. TravelTime
Traveltime is a web-based tool developed by a UK-based company that believes that time is more useful than distance in commutes. Back in 2019 when I originally wrote this post I loved their tagline ‘Minutes mean more than Miles’.
I personally agree 100%.
Pros
What I like best about this commute radius tool is the flexibility and depth of commuting options to explore. For example:
- Wide choice of commute time: You can pick the exact day AND time of commute. The other tools weren’t as clear (or provide as much control) over the day and time. One tool only provided commute radiuses for 8am morning rush hour, which isn’t helpful to the non 9-5 Monday-Friday commuter.
- Multi-transportation mode: This is the only tool that gives more than just a car as a commute option. You can choose cycling, car, public transport, walking, even driving and train. Not everyone commutes by car, so this tool is helpful to those with access to public transportation.
- Arriving and departing commutes: In my experience in the Boston area, the commute time to work differs from the commute from work. This tool will calculate commute radiuses for both directions.
Personally, being able to play with all these options leads me to believe that this may be the most sophisticated commuter radius tool currently online. And probably provides the most accurate reflection of my husband’s true 30-minute commute. But that’s just my gut feeling.
Cons
But there are a few downsides, and unfortunately more in 2023 than in 2019. In 2019 (when I originally wrote this post), I didn’t have to create an account to access. Now you must create a profile using my personal information (including my phone number) to get access and an “API key”.
Bummer they have added this requirement. It appear that the company has grown more sophisticated capabilities and focused their maps towards more on commercial tech-based customers and not the average homebuyer. It’s where the money is, I get it.
Another the downside of this tool is that it isn’t linked to a real estate database, unless you are located in the UK and can use RightMove. For non-UK folks, it requires homebuyers to do a little more legwork and a second step to then go into the real estate databases and search for these specific towns. BUT considering all the flexibility and level of detail you can input into their map tool, you might find this well worth your time.
Our TravelTime Commute Map Radius
I’m going to show you both the 2019 and 2023 maps I created. As you see below in our 2019 map, our resulting commute radius was square-ish, although a bit longer north to south. The main highway runs north to south, the backroads run east to west.
Here’s the 2023 driving radius map. I entered the same inputs (i.e. same work address, time duration of commute, mode of transportation, etc). The resulting map has a smaller commute radius. Perhaps traffic patterns have changed in 4 years, especially after the pandemic, or perhaps TravelTime has improved their algorithm for greater traffic accuracy.
Also note that it took a few steps to get to this particular map. TravelTime offers a plethora of map options. For our purposes here (i.e. commute radius map with rush-house options), you want the “API Playground” and “Isochrone API” map.
Click here to try out TravelTime for free to create your commute radius map.
3. HomeSnap
2023 Update – Homesnap is now owned by Homes.com. Unfortunately, when I don’t consider it and upgrade since they no longer offer this feature.
I’ll save the below wording just in case Homes.com will incorporate this amazing feature back into their search filters. Here’s what I experienced in 2019….
Homesnap is residential real estate app known for its simple messaging and sharing features that make buying with a partner (or even getting your parents to chime in) much simpler.
Like the Realtor.com app, commute time works as a filter (like lot size and number of bathrooms) and instantly produces a listing of available homes for homebuyers. But it’s not as detailed as TravelTime.
It appears that HomeSnap has plans for more detailed commute radius features in the future. For example, there is a pull-down filter for “By Commute” which indicates other modes of transportation besides car, but I couldn’t get other options to pull down. And HomeSmap indicates that multiple addresses can be entered to find a commute time that works for the whole household, but I couldn’t get it to work either). Maybe it’s because I only tried the desktop version. Or perhaps these are in the works on HomeSnap’s end.
Our HomeSnap Commute Radius
Our resulting commute radius was square-ish and looked very similar to the TravelTime results. Note that as of the date of this post, HomeSnap calculates a commuter radius based on traffic conditions at 8AM on a weekday.
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