FILE - Traffic on Highway 101 in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, May 21, 2026. ( Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A large chunk of Americans drive a car to get from point A to point B in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Transportation and Statistics.
Having the luxury of driving your own vehicle comes with a price tag, as well as dealing with daily commuter issues such as traffic, accidents and poor road conditions.
WalletHub’s study evaluated and ranked 100 of the largest U.S. cities to determine the best and worst places for drivers.
See the ranking:
Top 30 cities in the US for drivers
Click here to see the full ranking.
By the numbers:
About 87% of daily American trips occur in personal vehicles, according to WalletHub’s data.
Drivers spend nearly 370 annual hours and about $894 per year in wasted fuel and traffic delays.
To evaluate driver-friendliness, WalletHub compared cities using 30 key metrics grouped into four main categories:
- Cost of ownership and maintenance
- Traffic and infrastructure
- Safety, and access to vehicles and maintenance
WalletHub considered average gas prices, auto repair costs, and parking availability to annual traffic congestion hours, road quality, weather hazards, and local car theft rates to create its ranking.
Scottsdale tops the list
Dig deeper:
Scottsdale, Arizona, earned the top spot as the best city to drive in, driven by outstanding safety ratings and smooth traffic infrastructure.
Following Scottsdale in the top five are Boise, Idaho, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Lincoln, Nebraska, and Corpus Christi, Texas.
These top-tier cities excelled at offering affordable vehicle maintenance, manageable commute times, and accident rates well below national averages, according to WalletHub.
On the other end of the spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ranked as the single worst city for drivers, burdened by severe traffic gridlock, poor road conditions, and high safety risks.
Joining Philadelphia at the bottom of the rankings are Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, California, New York, and Detroit, Michigan, where drivers face staggering ownership costs, persistent congestion, and limited auto-repair and parking accessibility.
Interestingly, Lubbock, Texas, faced 14x fewer annual traffic congestion hours than commuters in Chicago, while drivers in Fort Wayne enjoyed average gas prices half those in San Francisco.
Additionally, Boise stands out for having the lowest overall accident likelihood relative to the national average, whereas Hialeah, Florida records the lowest car theft rate in the country.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from a WalletHub report posted on Oct. 6, 2026. WalletHub compiled its ranking based on data as of Sept. 8, 2026, from the U.S. Census Bureau, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Council for Community and Economic Research, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, INRIX, National Centers for Environmental Information, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Automobile Association, The Road Information Program, Federal Highway Administration, Waze Mobile, Allstate Insurance Company, U.S. Department of Energy, QuinStreet Insurance Agency, Yelp, TrueCar, Insurance Information Institute and WalletHub research. This story was reported from San Jose.