Americans spend nearly £140,000 in their lifetime just to work

From commuting costs to lunch bills, uniforms, bags and other items – research reveals our counterparts across the pond fork out and average of around £2700 ($3611.83) each year in order to be able to work.

The incredible tally emerged in a study of 2000 employees on their day-to-day travel habits and found sitting in traffic for long hours and multiple commutes throughout the day sees the average American spending about 30 days a year sitting in their cars. They even spend more time in their cars than they do with their significant others and eating dinner with the family.

In honour of National Car Free Day, Schwinn Bicycles polled American employees and discovered transportation takes the biggest chunk of cash from their pockets – with the average worker spending nearly £1300 ($1667) each year on gas, cab fares and public transportation.

Food costs almost as much as it takes to commute to work; the survey shows Americans will spend £1180 ($1532) on food and everything from coffee to snacks, vending machines and lunch specials.

More than £231 ($300) is spent on uniforms or work attire each year, and £82 ($106) is spent on work-related supplies every year.

“It can be expensive to commute to and from work,” said Milissa Rick, Senior Director of Marketing for Schwinn. “Our budgets can take a big hit when combining gas purchases, insurance, and car maintenance. And as the survey results show it can cost some of us nearly $2000 (£1545) a year.”

With the average person driving 162.42 miles and walking 63.5 miles every week, the survey also shows Americans spend more time in our cars than they do watching movies or socialising with friends. Results show the typical American will drive an average 131,957 miles and walk 52,270 miles in our adult lifetime.

Whether they’re speeding down the highway or sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, the average person spends about 12 hours sitting in their car each week. That’s more than twice the quality time spent with a significant other, and four times longer than they spend socialising with friends. Dinner with family also fails to compare to how much time they spend in a car. Participants reported spending about four hours a week having dinner with family members.

Schwinn’s Milissa Rick says: “In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in people using bicycles as a mode of transportation. Concurrent with this has been a dramatic increase in cities around the world investing in cycling infrastructure. We at Schwinn are pleased to be a part of this growing trend.”