Which Cities Have the Best and Worst Commutes in America?

American commutes can range from 15-minute drives in Jacksonville, North Carolina, to 41-minute crawls through New York traffic. Location determines whether workers deal with minimal delays or real headaches from crash risks, fuel costs and gridlock that adds 50% to travel times during peak hours.

We crunched the numbers across major U.S. cities using composite scores that factor in travel time, crash rates, fuel expenses and traffic congestion levels. The results show California cities accounting for seven of the 10 worst spots, while small Southern and Midwestern markets post the most manageable commuting experiences. Most have Travel Time Indexes around 1.1.

California accounts for seven of the top 10 worst commute rankings. Los Angeles leads with a composite score of 0.72. High morning crash rates and heavy congestion push the Travel Time Index to 1.5. Trips take 50% longer during peak hours than under free-flow conditions.

The problems vary by city. San Francisco has the highest fuel costs at $848 a year. San Jose has the highest morning crash rate at 1.0 per 100,000 commuters.

California's concentration at the top reflects sprawling metro areas, high gas prices and dense traffic. But gridlock isn't a West Coast problem alone.

Chicago ranks sixth nationally with the longest average commute time at 34 minutes. Newark, New Jersey, rounds out the top 10 with high morning crash rates, which also factor into local car insurance costs.

Some cities with short commute times still rank poorly. San Jose averages just 28 minutes, but high crash rates drive up its composite score. Honolulu's 27-minute average is undercut by moderate crash rates and traffic delays that stretch travel times 41% during peak hours.

New York leads the nation in commute agony. Drivers spend 41 minutes in traffic that drops to 22 mph during rush hour. Chicago (34 minutes, 25 mph) and Philadelphia (32 minutes, 27 mph) round out the three worst cities for gridlock.

All three exceed the national average commute time of 26.6 minutes by at least five minutes.

Speed drops worst between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. for nine of the 10 cities. Baltimore is the exception. Its sharpest slowdown hits during the 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. morning commute.

Extended travel times and slower speeds raise fuel costs and vehicle wear for commuters in these cities. Higher accident exposure in gridlocked corridors also pushes insurance premiums up.

Vallejo-Fairfield, California, has the highest average fuel cost for commuters at $886 a year. Other major California metro areas, including San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles-Long Beach, fill most of the top 10, alongside high-cost metros like New York and Chicago.

The high costs reflect longer commute distances and above-average gas prices in major metro areas.

Despite nationwide fluctuations in fuel prices, smaller cities in Nebraska, Texas and the Midwest consistently offer the lowest fuel costs. These areas have shorter average commute times, often under 20 minutes, and cheaper gas prices that hold annual commuting fuel expenses well below $250.

Memphis, Tennessee, logs the most dangerous morning commute in America at 4.33 fatal crashes per 100,000 residents. Albany, Georgia (4.13), and Tucson, Arizona (3.98), round out the top three most dangerous metropolitan areas for commuters.

The most congested roads in the U.S. cluster in major metro areas, including Chicago, New York City and Stamford. INRIX 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard ranks routes by total hours lost to congestion each year. Drivers on Stamford's southbound I-95 lost an average of 151 hours in 2024, the highest in the country.

Stamford ranks first. Chicago accounts for five of the top 10 spots. Deep congestion hits multiple expressway corridors during morning and late afternoon rush hours. Some segments lose over 30 minutes of travel time a day. In areas with few alternative routes or transit options, those delays compound fast.

Small and mid-sized cities across the South and Midwest post the nation's most manageable commutes. Columbia, South Carolina, and Jackson, Michigan, share the top spot with a composite score of 0.08. Jackson earns its ranking with a 16-minute average commute. Columbia averages 17 minutes but offsets that with lower annual fuel costs at $290 a year.

Top-ranked cities post Travel Time Indexes around 1.1, putting rush hour at just 10% longer than free-flow travel. Morning crash rates stay below 0.5 per 100,000 commuters in eight of the 10 cities.

Jacksonville, North Carolina, has the shortest commute at 15 minutes. Cities like Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Buffalo, New York, average 19-minute commutes and carry fuel costs above $360 a year, but minimal traffic delays and low crash rates still place them in the top 10.

Springfield, Missouri, has the highest morning crash rate (1.21) among the best commute cities, but affordable fuel costs and light congestion keep its overall ranking strong. No single factor determines commute quality. Many also rank among the most affordable in the U.S. Low commute times come with lower overall costs of living.

The data below covers state-level road quality and public transit rankings.

MoneyGeek ranked 124 metropolitan statistical areas with labor forces of 200,000 people or more for transportation quality across four equally weighted factors.

We analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data for commute times, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash data for morning hours (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.), AAA gas prices for fuel costs and U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics data for traffic congestion.

A higher composite score indicates worse transportation conditions. The score combines four factors, each weighted equally at 25%:

• Morning crash rate: The average yearly number of fatal crashes during morning commute hours (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.) from 2019 to 2023 per 100,000 residents, measuring safety risk during peak travel.
• Average commute time: The one-way travel time to or from work for each metro area.
• Annual fuel cost: The estimated yearly fuel cost for commuting, calculated using average commute distance, 24 mpg vehicle efficiency and local gas prices.
• Travel time index: A congestion measure comparing peak-period travel time to free-flow travel time. A TTI of 1.30 means a trip takes 30% longer during peak hours than under ideal conditions. Higher values indicate more severe congestion.

We normalize each metric on a zero-to-one scale with min-max normalization, then combine them into the composite score.

Rankings use precise composite score calculations to multiple decimal places, so cities with identical displayed scores may have different ranks due to rounding.