Could you use a spare $2,618? That’s how much money Chicago commuters lost due to the costs of being stuck in traffic.
Could you use a spare $2,618? That’s how much money Chicago commuters lost due to the costs of being stuck in traffic.
Throughout the country, delay on the busiest U.S. corridors increased in 2022 along with congestion metro-wide, according to the latest traffic report by Inrix, a U.S. company that analyzes transportation data.
Anyone in Stamford, Conn., who drives on the 30-mile corridor on I-95 southbound from Sherwood Island Connector to Indian Field Road probably already has a pretty good idea of how much time they’ve lost to congestion — an average of 34.5 minutes per day in lost time during the morning commute, and nearly as much on the northbound trip, Inrix says. This is the worst corridor in the U.S.
Not surprising that drivers on I-5 south in Los Angeles (or as they say, “the 5”) lost an average of 31.8 minutes a day in the afternoons. According to Inrix, a driver taking that route 240 workdays in 2022 would have lost 127 hours a year sitting in traffic.
Other notable corridors are I-93 southbound through downtown Boston to the Pilgrim Highway Interchange (99 hours lost annually) and westbound Brooklyn Queens Expressway to Tillary Street in New York City (91 hours lost).
Nationally, U.S. drivers spent 4.8 billion hours in congestion, and while that sounds awful, it’s less than the pre-pandemic 6 billion hours of 2019.
Traffic congestion cost the U.S. more than $81 billion in 2022. Inrix calculates the cost to cities add up to $9.5 billion for Chicago, $10.2 billion to New York, and $8.6 billion to Los Angeles.
Individually, a typical American driver lost 51 hours mired in traffic, costing an average of $869 in lost time, according to Inrix, and that doesn’t even include fuel costs. The average American driver spent $134 more on gas in 2022 than in 2021. A Los Angeles commuter shelled out nearly $315 more in 2022 than in 2021, and the typical New York driver an additional $213 in 2022.
To compile their Global Traffic Scorecard, Inrix collects billions of anonymous data points daily from a variety of sources, including connected vehicles, mobile devices, navigation units, fleet vehicles, road and garage infrastructure, and publicly available information on incidents for nearly 1,000 cities around the world.
These are the U.S. cities (plus Toronto) that had the worst traffic in the world in 2022.
1. Chicago
Hours lost per driver: 155Cost per driver: $2,618Downtown speed: 11 mphGlobal rank: 2
Besides being worst in the U.S. for traffic, Chicago ranks No. 2 in the world, behind London. See the worst cities in the world for traffic here.
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2. Boston
Hours lost per driver: 134Cost per driver: $2,270Downtown speed: 11 mphGlobal rank: 4
3. New York City
Hours lost per driver: 117Cost per driver: $1,976Downtown speed: 11 mphGlobal rank: 5
4. Toronto
Hours lost per driver: 118Cost per driver: N/ADowntown speed: 10 mphGlobal rank: 7
5. Philadelphia
Hours lost per driver: 114Cost per driver: $1,925Downtown speed: 11 mphGlobal rank: 8
6. Miami
Hours lost per driver: 105Cost per driver: $1,773Downtown speed: 15 mphGlobal rank: 9
7. Los Angeles
Hours lost per driver: 95 Cost per driver: $1,601Downtown speed: 19 mphGlobal rank: 14
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8. San Francisco
Hours lost per driver: 97 Cost per driver: $1,642Downtown speed: 12 mphGlobal rank: 15
9. Washington D.C.
Hours lost per driver: 83 Cost per driver: $1,398Downtown speed: 11 mphGlobal rank: 20
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10. Houston, Texas
Hours lost per driver: 74Cost per driver: $1,257Downtown speed: 16 mphGlobal rank: 27
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11. Atlanta
Hours lost per driver: 74Cost per driver: $1,257Downtown speed: 16 mphGlobal rank: 28
12. New Orleans
Hours lost per driver: 77Cost per driver: $1,297Downtown speed: 14 mphGlobal rank: 34
13. Portland, Ore.
Hours lost per driver: 72Cost per driver: $$1,216Downtown speed: 15 mphGlobal rank: 37
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14. Stamford, Conn.
Hours lost per driver: 73Cost per driver: $1,236Downtown speed: 13 mphGlobal rank: 42
Stamford is home to four of the worst traffic corridors in the U.S., all in the top 8. The worst is 1-95 south between Sherwood Island and Indian Field Road.
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15. Dallas
Hours lost per driver: 56Cost per driver: $953Downtown speed: 16 mphGlobal rank: 54
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16. Baltimore
Hours lost per driver: 55Cost per driver: $932Downtown speed: 12 mphGlobal rank: 63
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17. San Diego
Hours lost per driver: 54Cost per driver: $912Downtown speed: 19 mphGlobal rank: 67
18. Denver
Hours lost per driver: 54Cost per driver: $912Downtown speed: 14 mphGlobal rank: 69
19. Austin, Texas
Hours lost per driver: 53Cost per driver: $892Downtown speed: 17 mphGlobal rank: 80
20. Seattle
Hours lost per driver: 46Cost per driver: $770Downtown speed: 17 mphGlobal rank: 93
21. Concord, Calif.
Hours lost per driver: 54Cost per driver: $912Downtown speed: 18 mphGlobal rank: 110
22. Providence R.I.
Hours lost per driver: 42Cost per driver: $500Downtown speed: 14 mphGlobal rank: 124
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23. Las Vegas
Hours lost per driver: 41Cost per driver: $689Downtown speed: 19 mphGlobal rank: 127
24. San Juan, Puerto Rico
Hours lost per driver: 41Cost per driver: $689Downtown speed: 20 mphGlobal rank: 175
25. Nashville, Tenn.
Hours lost per driver: 41Cost per driver: $689Downtown speed: 21 mphGlobal rank: 131
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26. Sacramento, Calif.
Hours lost per driver: 36Cost per driver: $608Downtown speed: 17 mphGlobal rank: 163
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27. Pittsburgh
Hours lost per driver: 34Cost per driver: $568Downtown speed: 19 mphGlobal rank: 192
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28. San Antonio, Texas
Hours lost per driver: 32Cost per driver: $547Downtown speed: 18 mphGlobal rank: 204
29. Milwaukee
Hours lost per driver: 32Cost per driver: $547Downtown speed: 18 mphGlobal rank: 211
30. Tampa, Fla.
Hours lost per driver: 30Cost per driver: $507Downtown speed: 24 mphGlobal rank: 226
