How far are you willing to commute to get to work?
Hairstylist Kaitlin Jorgensen works at a salon on Manhattan's Upper West Side, but it takes more than just a bus and a train ride to get her to the office.
Her commute also includes a plane ride.
"I'm able to take the first flight out of Charlotte on Wednesday morning," Jorgensen told NBC New York.
That's right, Jorgensen lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her commute to work is nearly 600 miles.
"The pros are not paying New York City rent. As we know, it is quite expensive," she said.
Her commute, which she documents on TikTok, involves an Uber to the airport, an hour and a half flight to LaGuardia Airport, hopping on the bus to Manhattan and then transferring to a train to get to the Upper West Side. And voilà, she's at work.
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"I've been doing this commute for almost a year now," the super commuter shared.
Jorgensen said the extreme commute has saved her thousands of dollars -- most of that in rent. The average rent for an apartment in the city is roughly $3,747. It's less than half of that in Charlotte, where the average rent is a little more than $1,400.
"I stay at my friend Jenni’s house. I pay her a little bit for rent so it works out both ways that’s one of the things that made it really affordable to do this back and forth, I don’t have to get a hotel every time," she said.
Jorgensen is not alone. The city believes there are 64,000 super commuters who travel from outside of the tri-state to work in Manhattan.
The extreme commute underscores another issue – New York City’s unaffordability crisis. A recent report by the Center for Women’s Welfare uncovered half of all households do not earn enough to cover their basic needs.
