These 20 cities have the worst commutes, study finds
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(NEXSTAR) – If you’re stuck in traffic every morning and every evening, is it comforting to know you’re not alone? The average American adult spends 219 hours a year – or more than nine full days – commuting every year, a new analysis by MoneyGeek found.
The personal finance site used data from the Census, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, TomTom, plus gas prices to determine where residents have the best and worst commutes.
Six of the 10 worst places for commuters are in California, MoneyGeek found.
It’s not just that drivers in Vallejo, San Jose, Stockton, Modesto and other California cities have to sit in traffic for a long time – though they do – but they have to pay out the nose to do so. Gas prices are high all around California, and residents in further suburbs (like Vallejo and Fairfield) are often driving longer distances to get into the office. (MoneyGeek factored in the cost of gas, but not the cost of public transit, in its report.)
To make matters even worse, commuters who drive to work risk damage to their car – or their own safety – every time they get behind the wheel. Crash rates weren’t highest in California cities, however. Drivers in Jacksonville, Florida; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and San Antonio, Texas, were more likely to experience a crash during their commute, MoneyGeek found.
The study combined these factors – commute time, rush-hour speed, crash rates and gas costs – to give of the country’s 124 largest metro areas a score. The 20 worst communities for commuters are:
| Rank | Metro area | Score | Avg. 1-way commute (minutes) | Avg. rush-hour speed (mph) | Morning commute crash rate | Annual gas cost |
| 1. | Vallejo-Fairfield, CA | 0.0 | 34 | 28 | 0.31 | $1,792 |
| 2. | Stockton-Lodi, CA | 5.2 | 35 | 28 | 0.20 | $1,791 |
| 3. | Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL | 14.3 | 32 | 27 | 0.32 | $1,099 |
| 4. | Modesto, CA | 15.0 | 31 | 28 | 0.18 | $1,582 |
| 5. | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 15.5 | 35 | 31 | 0.12 | $1,931 |
| 6. | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 19.5 | 28 | 26 | 0.27 | $1,367 |
| 7. | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 20.1 | 32 | 18 | 0.16 | $1,042 |
| 8. | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 21.3 | 28 | 31 | 0.35 | $1,243 |
| 9. | Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL | 21.6 | 33 | 27 | 0.15 | $1,133 |
| 10. | Jacksonville, FL | 23.0 | 28 | 34 | 0.54 | $1,202 |
| 11. | San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | 24.9 | 29 | 30 | 0.45 | $1,015 |
| 12. | Birmingham-Hoover, AL | 25.1 | 29 | 32 | 0.25 | $1,161 |
| 13. | Baton Rouge, LA | 25.3 | 29 | 29 | 0.48 | $1,028 |
| 14. | Charleston-North Charleston, SC | 25.6 | 30 | 26 | 0.36 | $941 |
| 15. | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 27.5 | 33 | 23 | 0.21 | $918 |
| 16. | Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT | 28.1 | 33 | 30 | 0.06 | $1,492 |
| 17. | Albuquerque, NM | 28.4 | 27 | 34 | 0.45 | $1,167 |
| 18. | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 28.5 | 31 | 20 | 0.10 | $1,066 |
| 19. | Worcester, MA-CT | 28.8 | 31 | 29 | 0.10 | $1,239 |
| 20. | Port St. Lucie, FL | 29.1 | 31 | 27 | 0.15 | $1,078 |
If you’re looking for someone to be jealous of, look no further than Madison, Wisconsin. Drivers there benefit from low gas prices, rare crashes and short commute times, earning it the No. 1 spot for best commutes in the ranking.
The shortest average commute time overall was found in Wichita, Kansas. Meanwhile, drivers in the McAllen, Texas, metro area pay the least for gas every year. The award for fewest crashes was a three-way tie between Boulder, Colorado; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Trenton, New Jersey.