# Which US city has the worst traffic?

> Nobody agrees whose commute is the worst, and everybody is sure it is theirs. The traffic data and the drivers rarely tell the same story.

*By YPB Team · Published August 10, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/which-us-city-has-the-worst-traffic*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Los Angeles**
   The city whose freeways became shorthand for gridlock everywhere else.
2. **Chicago**
   Topped the 2025 INRIX scorecard with 112 hours lost per driver.
3. **New York City**
   Bridge and tunnel queues plus the country's first congestion charge.
4. **Philadelphia**
   The Schuylkill Expressway backs up in both directions most afternoons.
5. **Boston**
   Narrow colonial street grid carrying modern commuter volume.
6. **Miami**
   I-95 congestion made worse by year-round visitor traffic.
7. **Houston**
   The Katy Freeway is one of the widest roads on earth and still jams.
8. **Atlanta**
   Spaghetti Junction funnels three interstates through one interchange.
9. **San Francisco**
   Bridge bottlenecks and hills on a peninsula with nowhere to widen.
10. **Seattle**
   One interstate spine squeezed between a lake and Puget Sound.
11. **Washington DC**
   Beltway commuters from two states meeting in one federal district.
12. **Dallas**
   A metro built entirely around freeway interchanges, growing faster than they do.
13. **Denver**
   Interstate 25 through downtown plus every ski weekend heading west.

Tags: usa, cars, cities, traffic