That's a fair point but most people are on a fixed salary and don't think of their time value as marginal. So for instance, if you're earning $50 an hour, you'r

That's a fair point but most people are on a fixed salary and don't think of their time value as marginal. So for instance, if you're earning $50 an hour, you're earning 100k per year, and if you're on a salary, you may think of having a budget of 8.3k, pre-tax, or a little over 5k post-tax. So if you're spending an extra 1.9k on an apartment that cuts down your commute by 2 hours a day, that's money you're not spending on other quality of life things, including saving and paying down any debt. In this light, spending an extra 2k, despite it saving you 2 hours, doesn't seem as feasible.