America’s Toughest Commutes: The Cities Where Traffic Is Costing Drivers the Most
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Contents
Top 10 toughest commutes in America
Why Atlanta has the toughest commute
How Houston’s traffic problem comes with an air quality problem
Baltimore, Tampa, and Miami round out the top 5
Why sitting in traffic is bad for your car
Methodology
If your commute has felt worse this year, it’s not just you.
American drivers lost an average of 49 hours to congestion in 2025 – six hours more than the year before – with that lost time worth an estimated $894 per driver and $85.8 billion nationally.
With kids back in school and Labor Day traffic set to peak on September 3rd and 4th, as holiday travelers pile onto roads already full of regular commuters, new research from Wheels Away has ranked 32 U.S. cities on commute times, congestion levels, local air quality, and traffic-related search demand to find out exactly where drivers are paying the heaviest price.
- Atlanta ranks worst overall, with commuters spending an estimated 265 hours a year just getting to and from work.
- Philadelphia drivers lose the most value to congestion: an estimated $1,860 per driver.
- Houston has the worst air quality of any city studied, with only 10.1% of monitored days rated “good.”
- Miami has the most severe physical congestion, at 46.8%, while Boston loses the most time specifically to rush hour — 86 hours a year.
- Pittsburgh residents search for traffic information more than anyone else, generating 1,923 traffic-related searches per 100,000 residents each month.
The Top 10 Toughest Commutes in America
| Rank | City | Avg. one-way commute | Annual round-trip commute | Extra time from congestion | Congestion hours lost/year | Value of time lost | Good-air days | Traffic searches /100k | Score /100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Atlanta | 32.4 min | 265 hrs | 44.3% | 75 hrs | $1,381 | 41.1% | 1,643 | 89.9 |
| 2 | Houston | 31.1 min | 254 hrs | 40.8% | 70 hrs | $1,289 | 10.1% | 534 | 79.2 |
| 3 | Baltimore | 30.3 min | 247 hrs | 37.7% | 63 hrs | $1,160 | 58.1% | 1,528 | 77.9 |
| 4 | Tampa | 29.4 min | 240 hrs | 41.5% | 41 hrs | $755 | 50.4% | 1,379 | 75.9 |
| 5 | Miami | 30.2 min | 247 hrs | 46.8% | 75 hrs | $1,381 | 52.9% | 315 | 73.5 |
| 6 | Austin | 28.2 min | 230 hrs | 40.5% | 46 hrs | $847 | 43.6% | 865 | 72.6 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh | 26.3 min | 215 hrs | 37.3% | 51 hrs | $939 | 43.0% | 1,923 | 69.3 |
| 8 | Boston | 31.9 min | 261 hrs | 42.1% | 83 hrs | $1,529 | 71.0% | 216 | 69.2 |
| 9 | Washington, D.C. | 33.8 min | 276 hrs | 37.3% | 70 hrs | $1,289 | 59.5% | 361 | 68.9 |
| 10 | Philadelphia | 29.7 min | 243 hrs | 37.5% | 101 hrs | $1,860 | 41.4% | 251 | 68.0 |
The index weighs time, percentage, and per-capita measures rather than raw totals, so bigger cities aren’t automatically ranked higher.
Atlanta Has the Toughest Commute in America
Atlanta tops the list with a Congestion Score of 89.9 out of 100 – more than ten points ahead of second-place Houston. The average round-trip commute there runs about 32.4 minutes each way, adding up to roughly 265 hours a year. Congestion alone stretches those trips 44.3% longer than they’d be under normal traffic flow.
On top of that, Atlanta drivers lose an estimated 75 hours a year to congestion, worth about $1,381 per driver – both figures more than 50% above the national average. Air quality wasn’t much better: only 41.1% of monitored days met “good” air quality standards. And with roughly 8,300 traffic-related searches a month, Atlanta has the second-highest search rate of any city in the study.
Houston’s Traffic Problem Comes With an Air Quality Problem
Houston lands in second place with a score of 79.2, driven largely by the worst air quality results in the entire study – just 10.1% of days were rated “good,” and the median daily AQI of 63 was the second-highest recorded. Despite generating the highest raw number of traffic searches (about 12,440 a month), Houston’s population-adjusted rate comes out lower at 534 per 100,000 residents.
The average one-way commute is 31.1 minutes, adding up to about 254 hours of commuting a year – with congestion pushing travel times up 40.8%.
Baltimore, Tampa, and Miami Round Out the Top Five
Baltimore takes third place (score: 77.9), with a 30.3-minute average one-way commute and 63 hours lost annually to congestion, worth about $1,160 per driver.
Florida is the only state with two cities in the top five. Tampa (75.9) edges out Miami (73.5) largely on search demand — Tampa generates 1,379 traffic-related searches per 100,000 residents compared to Miami’s 315, and search volume makes up 20% of the overall score. That said, Miami posts the roughest congestion numbers outright: a 46.8% congestion level, the highest of any city studied, plus an estimated 75 hours and $1,381 lost per driver each year.
Why Sitting in Traffic Is Bad for Your Car, Too
It’s not just your schedule and your wallet that take a hit – stop-and-go traffic is hard on vehicles as well. Automotive specialist Luke Oswald of Wheels Away explains why:
“The most difficult job your car will have to do is sitting in traffic. Although you don’t get anywhere during this time of ‘stop-and-go’ driving, it’s still keeping the motor, transmission and cooling system operating, so even though the miles are low, the wear will show up in the components instead of the odometer.”
Oswald notes that brake pads, clutch packs, fan bearings, and batteries all take on far more duty cycles in heavy urban driving than they would on the highway – meaning a low-mileage car that’s spent its life in city traffic can show as much mechanical wear as a high-mileage highway car. His advice: if you’re facing repeated, unrelated repair bills, get a full diagnosis, compare it against your car’s current value, and decide whether it’s still worth fixing before sinking more money into it.
About the Study
Wheels Away compared 32 selected city profiles across ten priority states and Washington, D.C. — the results reflect this sample rather than an exhaustive ranking of every U.S. city. Each city received a Congestion Score based on commute time, TomTom congestion and rush-hour delay data, EPA air quality readings, and Google traffic-search volume per 100,000 residents. Core traffic and air-quality conditions made up 80% of the score, with search demand accounting for the remaining 20%. Data was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020–2024 American Community Survey, TomTom, the EPA, Google Keyword Planner, and INRIX.
Full dataset, source list, and detailed methodology available on request.