Stuck in traffic? Drivers in these cities have it the worst

The thought of driving in many of America’s biggest cities conjures up images of bumper-to-bumper traffic and a sea of red brake lights. Taking the wrong freeway during peak driving times in these metros might get you stuck in slow motion for hours. But which U.S. cities are the worst to drive in?
Understanding which cities are home to the worst traffic may help you determine where you want to live and work, while the potential for hours spent idling on the road could mean the difference between which auto insurance policy or car warranty is right for your vehicle.
The ConsumerAffairs Research Team analyzed three key traffic measures for 49 major U.S. metros to determine which cities have the heaviest congestion, longest travel times and most fatal crashes. We combined these factors to calculate an overall traffic score for each city and rank them.
Los Angeles, California, is home to the worst traffic in the nation.
Jump to insightWashington, D.C., has the highest average time for driving to work, at nearly 33 minutes.
Jump to insightThe average daily congestion time in major U.S. cities was over 3.5 hours.
Jump to insightSt. Louis, Missouri, has the least traffic congestion of any major city we researched.
Jump to insightTop 10 cities with the worst traffic
We ranked cities using a “traffic score” that measures how bad the traffic is in each metro area based mainly on two factors: the average time workers spent commuting to work each day and the average daily duration of congested traffic. We also gave consideration to the rate of fatal car crashes. Here's how the cities stacked up:
1. Los Angeles, California
Traffic score: 89.1
- Average commute time: 30.1 minutes
- Average daily congestion: 7 hours, 55 minutes
- Fatal car crashes per 100,000 people: 8.9
Los Angeles has long had a notorious reputation for congested roads, with stop-and-go traffic across all hours of the day and a maze of highways that drivers in the country’s second-most populated city must navigate daily.
Federal Highway Administration data confirms just how bad that traffic is, with the city experiencing nearly eight hours of congestion each day — a full hour more than the second-place city in our ranking.
Despite having various public transportation options, Los Angeles is larger than many other cities with bad traffic and is known as a “commuter city” where workers tend to drive to their jobs.
2. Washington, D.C.
Traffic score: 84.6
- Average commute time: 32.7 minutes
- Average daily congestion: 6 hours, 45 minutes
- Fatal car crashes per 100,000 people: 4.2
The nation’s capital finishes second on our list but has the longest average commute for workers anywhere in the country, at nearly 33 minutes.
The driving force behind those high commute times is the difference between where people live and work. Most workplaces in Washington, D.C., are concentrated in downtown offices and at various military bases, while homes are scattered around the metropolitan area.
Despite the long commutes and heavy congestion, Washington has relatively few fatal traffic crashes, ranking 47th out of 49 cities.
3. Seattle, Washington
Traffic score: 79.4
- Average commute time: 28.3 minutes
- Average daily congestion: 6 hours, 50 minutes
- Fatal car crashes per 100,000 people: 5.2
As anyone who lives in Seattle knows, traffic in the largest Pacific Northwest city can come to a halt on Interstate 5 during morning and evening rush hours. Seattle has the second-longest period of daily congestion, at nearly seven hours per day, ranking behind only Los Angeles.
While there are projects underway to expand the light rail system, many workers still rely on their cars to get to work. The above-average commute time contributes to Seattle’s position near the top of our rankings.
4. San Francisco, California
Traffic score: 79.3
- Average commute time: 31.2 minutes
- Average daily congestion: 6 hours, 8 minutes
- Fatal car crashes per 100,000 people: 5.1
Traveling south down I-5 from Seattle will bring you toward San Francisco, which has a nearly identical traffic score.
The cities have similar rates of fatal crashes. San Francisco has a longer average commute time, but its daily congestion time is lower than Seattle's. The average travel time to work, at more than 31 minutes, is the third highest on the list.
While many locals rely on public transportation in San Francisco, this city sees backed-up freeways during rush hour because of its dense population and the presence of several other populous cities nearby, including San Jose and Oakland.
5. New York, New York
Traffic score: 76.8
- Average commute time: 31.4 minutes
- Average daily congestion: 5 hours, 46 minutes
- Fatal car crashes per 100,000 people: 2.7
New York City has a robust subway system, but in the nation’s most populated city, dense city blocks and the sheer number of drivers contribute to some of the worst gridlock in the U.S.
New York ranks second for average commute time and in the top 10 for its average duration of daily congestion, at nearly six hours per day. However, it ranks last in rate of fatal traffic crashes per 100,000 people.
6. Denver, Colorado
Traffic score: 76.6
- Average commute time: 26.9 minutes
- Average daily congestion: 6 hours, 26 minutes
- Fatal car crashes per 100,000 people: 10.0
Like other major cities in the Western U.S., Denver suffers from more extended periods of daily congestion, with a sprawling metro area and a large population of drivers.
Despite its middle-of-the-road ranks for commute time and deadly crashes, the city sees nearly 6.5 hours of congested traffic each day, the fifth highest of any city we analyzed. Even if the city’s drivers are spending less time getting to work than in most of the other cities in the top 10, they’re often driving below the speed limit doing it.
7. Portland, Oregon
Traffic score: 75.0
- Average commute time: 25.0 minutes
- Average daily congestion: 6 hours, 36 minutes
- Fatal car crashes per 100,000 people: 10.2
Another city along I-5 finds its way into the top 10, as Portland faces the fourth-most daily congestion, lasting more than 6.5 hours per day.
The congestion doesn’t have a severe effect on commute time, though, as Portland’s average travel time to work, at 25 minutes, ranks in the bottom third of our list and below the national average. The number of fatal car crashes per 100,000 people is also below the U.S. average.
8. Atlanta, Georgia
Traffic score: 72.8
- Average commute time: 30.9 minutes
- Average daily congestion: 4 hours, 22 minutes
- Fatal car crashes per 100,000 people: 18.2
While Atlanta sees the least congestion time of any city in the top 10, long commute times and a higher rate of fatal crashes drive this Southern metro onto the list.
People in Atlanta face the fourth-longest average commute time in the nation, at almost 31 minutes from home to work.
Atlanta is also the only city on our top 10 list to have a deadly crash ranking in the top half of all cities analyzed, finishing seventh, with more than 18 fatal crashes per 100,000 residents. (No other city finished above 31st.) That reflects a national trend of Southern cities having greater rates of crashes and traffic-related fatalities.
9. Chicago, Illinois
Traffic score: 72.1
- Average commute time: 29.5 minutes
- Average daily congestion: 5 hours, 12 minutes
- Fatal car crashes per 100,000 people: 6.5
Chicago is at No. 9 on this list — and happens to rank ninth in both travel time to work and congestion time.
The city sees over five hours of congestion daily, and its workers who drive spend about half an hour commuting to work each day. Like New York, Chicago has a vast street grid that shapes the city's traffic flow, but the city still sees much of its traffic pile up on highways and major thoroughfares.
While many workers in the city rely on driving, Chicago has a mix of public transportation options, including the “L” train system and buses.
10. Baltimore, Maryland
Traffic score: 71.8
- Average commute time: 28.6 minutes
- Average daily congestion: 5 hours, 24 minutes
- Fatal car crashes per 100,000 people: 6.0
Baltimore’s congestion time is the eighth highest in the country. It doesn’t help that the city is in close proximity to Washington, D.C., No. 2 on our list.
Like several other major cities in the top 10, Baltimore experiences relatively few fatal car crashes when compared with other major metros. However, there is still a lot of work to do to improve its traffic woes, including major infrastructure projects like the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge following its collapse in March 2024.
Which cities have the least traffic congestion?
The cities that rank the lowest in our analysis (and have the best traffic scores) tend to have smaller populations than those at the top, typically with 3 million or fewer residents.
Rochester, New York, the second-lowest city in the rankings, has an average commute time of less than 22 minutes, a full 11 minutes shorter than in Washington, D.C.
St. Louis, Missouri, which finished with the best traffic score, stood out for its daily congestion time, which is significantly lower than anywhere else, at 28 minutes; the next-closest city is Richmond, Virginia, which has over 100 minutes of congestion daily.
Cities with the lowest traffic scores
- St. Louis, Missouri: 44.2
- Rochester, New York: 45.8
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: 48.2
- Cleveland, Ohio: 48.8
- Richmond, Virginia: 48.8
How does your city rank?
Congestion lasts longer each day in Los Angeles than anywhere else, but Washington, D.C., may take the crown as the worst city for commuters, with an average travel time to work of nearly 33 minutes. Check out how other big cities’ roads compare when it comes to the worst places for traffic.
Bottom line
If you live in a big city, meandering through traffic is almost a way of life, whether you’re commuting to work or just running errands. For those living in the most populated cities, that congestion can mean extra hours spent idling in stop-and-go traffic and higher vehicle costs.
For example, traffic caused by an initial accident might distract drivers and increase the risk of additional crashes. Traffic congestion can also result in a vehicle overheating or running out of gas.
Driving at crawling speeds on the freeway and starting and stopping in bumper-to-bumper traffic may also wear down your brakes and cause other mechanical failures that can take a bite out of your savings. By reducing your speed in traffic and maintaining greater distances between you and the car in front of you, you can reduce the potential burden.
While you can take some proactive steps to help alleviate the effects of traffic, living in a bigger city with longer travel times and congestion will still take a toll on your vehicle. Knowing the traffic where you live may factor into what kind of insurance or warranty you choose to protect your vehicle, so do your research.
Methodology
To find the places with the worst traffic, the ConsumerAffairs Research Team calculated traffic scores for 49 of the most populous U.S. metros. The traffic score is based on three factors:
- Average travel time to work (45 points): We looked at the most recently available (2022) data from the U.S. Census Bureau for travel time to work among commuters who drove alone.
- Hours of congestion (45 points): We examined the number of congested hours in metropolitan areas, as reported by the Federal Highway Administration. The most recent Urban Congestion Report is for the period from July 2019 to September 2019. Congested hours are defined by the FHWA as “the average number of hours during specified time periods in which road sections are congested — speeds less than 90% of free-flow speed (e.g., 54 mph if free-flow speed is 60 mph).”
- Fatal car crashes per 100,000 people (10 points): The number of fatal car crashes per 100,000 residents was sourced from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Data is from 2022.
The city that had the worst data point in each metric (highest travel time, most congested hours, most fatal crashes) received the maximum score, while other cities were assigned scores based on their relative comparisons to the worst data point. We added up the scores in each of the three categories to get the traffic score, which has a maximum of 100 points.
Note that two metros in California (Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario and San Jose) were removed from the analysis because of incomplete data.
Note: The Urban Congestion Report data used in this analysis is from 2019, which is the most recent dataset available. Two metros (Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario and San Jose, California) were removed from the analysis due to missing data.
If you have any questions about the data or would like to set up an interview, please contact acurls@consumeraffairs.com.
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Article sources
ConsumerAffairs writers primarily rely on government data, industry experts and original research from other reputable publications to inform their work. Specific sources for this article include:
- U.S. Census Bureau, “Means of Transportation to Work by Selected Characteristics for Workplace Geography.” Accessed Aug. 27, 2024.Link Here
- Federal Highway Administration. “Urban Congestion Reports.” Accessed Aug. 27, 2024.Link Here
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “NHTSA File Downloads.” Accessed May 16, 2024.” Accessed Aug. 27, 2024.Link Here