Top Ten Worst Cities For Car Drivers
From NerdWallet.com
According to the Alliance to Save Energy, the average U.S. household spends $3,400 on gasoline each year. In addition to the cost of driving, there are a plethora of other non-financial hassles associated with driving, including getting caught in traffic jams, watching out for jaywalking pedestrians and circling your neighborhood for an hour to find a parking spot. However, commuters should not be too afraid—many of these cities offer excellent public transportation options as an alternative to driving. Public transportation is good for the environment and may save you from feeling road rage.
We analyzed the data to bring you a list of the ten absolute worst U.S. cities to drive a car according to the following three questions:
1. Will you be stuck in traffic? We included the annual hours of traffic delay per commuter in our calculation. This number represents how many hours commuters spend in their cars, stuck in traffic, in addition to their regular commute time.
2. Is gas expensive? We incorporated the price per gallon of gas in our analysis; specifically, to what extent the price per gallon varies from the national average (across 304 urban areas).
3. Is the city overcrowded? We assessed this through the population density, the number of people per square mile. Densely packed cities are difficult to drive in and tend to have less available parking because there are many commuters.
Check out NerdWallet’s Cost of Living Calculator and City Life Tool for more information on comparing cities.
To see what you’re missing out on, check out the ten best cities for car drivers!
Ten worst cities for car drivers
| Rank |
City |
Annual hours of delay per commuter |
% Difference between cost of a gallon of gas and national urban average |
Population density (people per square mile) |
Overall score for car owners |
| 1 |
New York, NY |
59 |
+7.67% (more expensive than average) |
27,012.4 |
23.2 |
| 2 |
Chicago, IL |
51 |
30.30% |
11,841.80 |
29.1 |
| 3 |
San Francisco, CA |
61 |
5.75% |
17,179.20 |
36.1 |
| 4 |
Los Angeles, CA |
61 |
7.24% |
8,092.30 |
46.5 |
| 5 |
Boston, MA |
53 |
3.04% |
12,792.70 |
48.7 |
| 6 |
Washington, DC |
67 |
-3.07% (cheaper than average) |
9,856.5 |
48.9 |
| 7 |
Oakland, CA |
61 |
5.38% |
7,004.00 |
49.4 |
| 8 |
Honolulu, HI |
45 |
17.28% |
5,572.60 |
51.3 |
| 9 |
Portland, OR |
44 |
15.16% |
4,375.30 |
55.1 |
| 10 |
Philadelphia, PA |
48 |
-2.71% |
11,379.50 |
58.2 |
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