Even the easiest commute is still a commute and commuting takes every job down a peg. A great job is a good job, a good job is now a moderately crappy job, etc. With that said there are always going to be reasons to suck up the commute. Something to think about though is while you are wise to consider being able to still afford where you live in a downturn, would you still be a senior FO in that case and able to make the commute tolerable (eg being able to bid commutable trips, or have enough days off between blocks of work, being able to hold lower line values, etc). The first day I didn't commute to this job is the day I told my wife that going forward if we were to ever move, pick a domicile city and we will live within a 2 hour drive of it. Even when junior I can get a pretty good schedule be being able to "bid weird". Since I don't need to worry about commutability or minimizing out of pocket hotel rooms I have a lot more leeway in how I "restrict" my schedule. I'd look at a few things like how much premium do you miss out on not living in base and would that make a difference at your current seat/rate? What are the schedules of those at your seniority who have upgraded look like? Would those be tenable for you living in base? What is the likelihood of your commute getting harder? Do you have a current drive option? Is there an option close to the domicile but maybe a 2-3 hour drive that you'd consider? I will say, nothing beats driving to this job. My car is never weight restricted, oversold, or has a senior/first in line for the jumpseat. Even when I end up flying some of the crappier/less desirable trips it just means I got a block of days off I wanted and nothing better came along to trade. I took some trash to get some treasure if you will.