As you prepare for the morning’s harrowing commute, you can solace in one undeniable fact: New York has it worse. That’s according to the financial website WalletHub, which just released its list of 2015’s Best and Worst Cities to Be a Driver.
In order to determine the best and worst cities for drivers, WalletHub looked at several key factors across the 100 most populous cities in the U.S.: cost, traffic and road conditions, safety, and driver and car wellness.
New York drivers get the worst of all worlds with some of the highest parking and auto maintenance costs in the nation, coupled with a dismal lack of auto repair shops and snarling traffic to boot. Washington, D.C. also fared poorly, coming it at #99. It was preceded by the City of Philadelphia at #98.
Nonetheless, California’s major cities don’t have much to brag about. San Francisco came in at #97; Los Angeles, which still has the highest annual hours of traffic delays, came in at #91. San Bernardino, San Jose, Oakland, Riverside, Anaheim, and Long Beach also ranked in the bottom 80.
The best cities for drivers are in Texas. Lubbock and Corpus Christi took the top 2 spots, followed by Lincoln, NE; Greensboro, NC; and Tucson, AZ.
The situation looks bleak no matter which way you slice it. Americans spend about 200 hours on the road per year at an annual cost of $2,600. As WalletHub notes, that’s almost equivalent to a six-week vacation. Ouch.
Read more about the Best and Worst Cities to Be a Driver and see a full list here.
Image Credit: Flickr User joiseyshowaa, https://flic.kr/p/cmJa3q via (CC BY-SA 2.0)