I think there is the cost of housing too. A lot of people end up working somewhere significantly more expensive so that they can be nearer to their office. Without the need to be within some reasonable (whatever that means to them) distance/time/cost of commuting, a lot of people would live somewhere cheaper and either save money or have a nicer home. This gets particularly complicated when there are multiple people in the household who are having to make that same calculation for different offices. I think we have a lot of highly innefficient housing/office situations. I wonder how many people will end up moving considerably closer to one office as the other partner can now work from home and they no longer have to live in the halfway point. I lived in Swindon for a while just because it was part way between Bath and Oxford, we both hated the commute but it was the only option at the time.