But hey, at least we climbed a spot from the cellar of 2022Clever's study of the best and worst U.S. cities for commuters in 2023 pegs Atlanta as a bottom-five finisher in terms of hellacious, expensive, time-consuming commutes—one spot worse than, gulp, Los Angeles.
Trying to get into NYC during rush hour (or out of it during rush hour) is generally much worse than the LA freeways at rush hour although in LA you can find yourself stopped and in such times they can be comparable.
1 U.S. city with the worst traffic: Chicago, IL. Chicago ranked as the U.S. city with the highest traffic delays in 2022. On a global scale, the Illinois city ranked No. 2, after London in the United Kingdom.
Traffic: LA Rush HourWeekday morning LA rush hour is roughly from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. The evening LA rush hours are around 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and later. On weekend nights, traffic heading into or out of Downtown L.A. and Hollywood can be heavy.
Chicago ranked as the U.S. city with the highest traffic delays in 2022. On a global scale, the Illinois city ranked No. 2, after London in the United Kingdom. In Chicago, drivers lost 155 hours in 2022.
When taking into consideration the other key metrics, WalletHub determined the five best cities to drive in are: Raleigh, North Carolina; Corpus Christi, Texas; Orlando, Florida; Greensboro, North Carolina and Plano, Texas.
The city has one of the worst traffic situations in the entire world. During peak hour, it is not uncommon to have some freeways moving at 8 miles per hour. A 30-mile ride can easily take one hour and ten or twenty minutes.
A comparison among six different countries found that Paris is the most congested city on the continent, followed by London. Germany's biggest metropolitan area Ruhrgebiet comes in third.
Chicago's traffic has always been notoriously bad but recent road work and shifting traffic patterns have exacerbated the issues. Even for a population used to sitting in traffic jams these new issues are pushing commuters to their breaking points.
On average, people in the City of Angels spend 153 hours per year on the road, 81 of those due to jams and congestion. Compare that with San Diego, where residents spend 80 hours per year driving, and 21 hours in congestion.