You can make huge money commuting to an airline that doesn't have a base where you live.

You can make huge money and get twice the number of days off living in base working for an airline with a slightly lower payscale but better work rules.

Living in base was worth somewhere between 10-20% to me. This year alone I've picked up around $10k in extra trips that were easy money but totally non-commutable, simply because I live 20 minutes from the airport. $10k for about 12 extra days of work and no commute hassles, due only to living in domicile. That's not bad for a 2nd yr FO.

Also, for a couple of recent months I ended up with a decent line but it was all weekends, didn't work at all with my family schedule. Because I live so close to the airport, I traded almost my entire schedule for 1 and 2 day trips that would suck for commuters and aren't desirable for anyone who live an hour or more from the airport. Super nice for me, home almost every night and it gives me flexibility to trade around kids/family schedule without worrying about commuting issues or spending money on hotels. Before I was in base, picking up 2 days extra work generally burned at least 3 days away from home, so I just didn't do it very often.

That said, some of the guys getting the most credit every month are commuters. They've been doing it for a while and often don't have kids at home, have a spouse who is self-entertaining (or have no spouse), so they don't mind spending 20-25 days on the road. I couldn't do that so I don't, but it works ok for some.