NW corner of CT here. We have a community college within 5 minutes of our home. The nearest four year public is about 50 minutes away driving. I guess that is within commutable range…but I did it for post masters work…and it was really not fun. And I was only doing it once a week.
While my town is not a large population, there are a bunch of towns surrounding mine that are larger…and really…no four year colleges closer.