This is common both in the Southeast US (where I'm from; for example "about an hour up the road from here") and in LA (where I live; for example "like 20 minutes from downtown, 45 with traffic")

I'd say it's probably the most common encoding for casual communication. Nobody remembers distance (unless for specific trips were it was read). 500m ? 1000m ? well "2min that way" + some external location to help ballparking.

I suppose. I've noticed that I often answer questions ostensibly about distance with time units. For instance, I was recently asked by the boss how far do I live from $meeting_place, to which I answered "90 minutes or so". Because what he was really asking for is how difficult it would be for me to get there, for which time is a much better approximation than distance.

Usually people don't care about actual distance. It's not useful for much, unless you're drawing a map. Also, note how new transport options change the perception of the world. 200 years ago, my ancestor would probably not bother with a casual visit to a town 70+ km away. These days, I don't think much of running errands over that distance - it's a 1.5h bus ride away, so I can go there in the morning, do stuff, and come back before dinner (and thanks to the current tech, I can also clock in some work time during commute).

Yes, it's used in Polish (coś jest 2 godziny stąd = something is 2 hours away).

Btw, there's this joke about a soldier asking a sergeant "what is timespace", and the sergeant answers "get a shovel and dig from here till sunset".

Here in Ohio it is common to give distance in time. Especially south/east Ohio in the hills.

There are also congested areas in Col/Cle/Cin where it might take 20min to go three miles so distance is also time there.

I'm from eastern Canada. I'm not sure I've ever heard someone give distance colloquailly except by using time.

I'm sure it has happened occasionally, but I wouldn't know how to process the information. Especially since equal distances can take different times depending on speed limits, etc

Yes I would give the distance in time if I was telling someone which suburb I grew up in. Ex. 30 minutes from downtown or about 45 from the airport.

I would do the same referencing smaller cites or states/locations close by. 6 hours from the gulf or 2 hours from this college.

I've heard this is a Canadian thing -- I also measure pretty much all distances by time. (15 minutes away, 2 hours away, 12 hours away, etc).

This might have been the consequence of switching from imperial measurements to metric in the 70s.

A friend of mine was trekking through a small village in the Amazon rainforest and got chatting to one of the locals. When he said he was from London he was asked "How many days up-stream is that?"

My friend from Houston, TX says it's very common over there. My guess is that it's due to how chaotic the roads are in Houston, so a 5 minute drive versus a 10 minute drive makes a world of a difference.

Also from Houston. Giving distances is almost meaningless in this city 2.8 miles away could be 20 minutes or it could be 3 minutes, so time is really the only accurate measure.

Maybe its a Cascadia thing? I'm just south of you in eastern Washington, and I've always done the same thing.