Millions of Americans began working from home during the pandemic, but millions others continued to commute to work every day. Now that offices are opening up again, more Americans will be joining them, with many dreading the commute. The average drive to work is 27.6 minutes, but in some parts of the country this commute can take much longer.

Driving on major highways packed with commuters can also be dangerous, as traffic accidents can occur. While every major city is bound to have some traffic, each state has at least one major metropolitan area in which driving is especially time consuming, expensive, and dangerous.

To determine the worst cities to drive in, 24/7 Wall St. created an index assessing the safety, cost, and convenience of driving in America’s metropolitan statistical areas.

Traffic congestion is the result of too many cars on the road and not enough roadway. And certain times, such as commute time, lend themselves to more traffic congestion. Most of the worst cities to drive in each state are metro areas with populations of well over 1 million people, making them among the largest population centers in the country.

Major metro areas tend to have better public transit options. Yet the vast majority of the cities that rank as the worst to drive in their state have a relatively high share of commuters who drive their own car to work compared to the nationwide share of 84.8%.

The worst place to drive in New York is the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area. It has an average commute time of 37.7 minutes, longer than the average commute in New York, which is 25.7 minutes. The time and fuel wasted sitting in traffic cost the average area driver $1,322 in 2020.

Statewide, 59.0% of workers drive to work, compared to 55.2% of New York-Newark-Jersey City area commuters. The New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area reported 4.2 traffic fatalities per 100,000 residents in 2019. Its most dangerous road was GSP-444, with 18 fatalities on that road that year.

To determine the worst cities to drive in, 24/7 Wall St. created an index assessing the safety, cost, and convenience of driving in America’s metropolitan statistical areas. Data on the number of traffic fatalities in 2019 from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and were adjusted for population using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey and were included in the index. Data on the mean travel time to work for the population 16 years and over came from the 2019 ACS and was included in the index.

State	Metro Area	2019 traffic fatalities per 100,000	Most dangerous road	Mean travel time to work (minutes)
Alabama	Birmingham-Hoover	13.7	I-65	28.1
Alaska	Anchorage	9.3	SR-3 PARKS HWY	23.1
Arizona	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler	10.4	I-10	27.9
Arkansas	Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway	12.9	I-30-22	22.7
California	San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley	5.4	I-80	35.2
Colorado	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood	8.4	I-70	28.8
Connecticut	Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk	3.3	I-95	32.2
Delaware	Dover	13.8	US-13	27.6
Florida	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach	11.1	I-95	30.3
Georgia	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta	11.3	I-75	32.5
Hawaii	Urban Honolulu	5.2	SR-83	29.4
Idaho	Boise City	8.0	I-84	23.0
Illinois	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin	6.2	I-80	32.4
Indiana	Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson	9.9	I-70E	25.6
Iowa	Cedar Rapids	7.3	US-30	20.8
Kansas	Wichita	11.9	SR-254	20.6
Kentucky	Louisville/Jefferson County	12.0	I-64	24.2
Louisiana	New Orleans-Metairie	12.6	I-10	26.5
Maine	Bangor	17.1	I-95 NB	22.3
Maryland	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson	7.2	I-95	31.7
Massachusetts	Boston-Cambridge-Newton	3.8	I-95	32.6
Michigan	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn	7.8	I-94	27.5
Minnesota	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington	5.0	US-169	26.1
Mississippi	Jackson	18.3	I-55	25.2
Missouri	St. Louis	11.7	I-70	26.0
Montana	Billings	11.6	US-310	19.9
Nebraska	Omaha-Council Bluffs	10.1	I-80	21.2
Nevada	Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise	8.2	I-15	25.9
New Hampshire	Manchester-Nashua	6.5	SR-101	28.0
New Jersey	Atlantic City-Hammonton	12.1	US-40	26.1
New Mexico	Albuquerque	15.4	I-40	24.4
New York	New York-Newark-Jersey City	4.2	GSP-444	37.7
North Carolina	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia	10.5	I-77	27.7
North Dakota	Bismarck	9.3	38TH AVE SW	18.3
Ohio	Columbus	9.5	I-71	25.0
Oklahoma	Oklahoma City	11.2	I-40	23.7
Oregon	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro	7.1	SR-18 ODOT 39	26.8
Pennsylvania	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington	7.2	I-95	30.8
Rhode Island	Providence-Warwick	6.6	I-95N EXIT 3B	27.2
South Carolina	Florence	29.8	US-52	24.7
South Dakota	Rapid City	8.4	SR-79	19.6
Tennessee	Memphis	17.3	I-55	24.8
Texas	Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land	9.2	I-45	30.7
Utah	Salt Lake City	5.8	SR-68	23.3
Vermont	Burlington-South Burlington	4.6	US-7	23.7
Virginia	Winchester	11.5	US-50	32.8
Washington	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue	5.1	SR-99	31.6
West Virginia	Wheeling	17.3	SR-7	25.6
Wisconsin	Milwaukee-Waukesha	7.4	I-41	23.5
Wyoming	Cheyenne	15.1	US-85	17.5

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