Los Angeles is often the first city people think of when talking about bad traffic, but there are more U.S. cities where drivers lose more hours trapped on the road every year. So, let’s find out cities have the worst traffic, why drivers lose so many hours on the road each year, and what makes some areas more congested than others.
Difficult traffic in these cities
Even though most of us would think New York or Los Angeles are at the top of the list of cities with the worst traffic, data show something different: Chicago is now the place where drivers lose more time trapped in traffic jams every year, according to a recent analysis about traffic and congestion.
This congestion is not a small issue. Drivers in Chicago lose more than 110 hours per year just in traffic jams or because the traffic is slow. This puts Chicago ahead of both New York City and Los Angeles.
Chicago surpasses New York and Los Angeles
Studies about traffic in 2025 show that Chicago is the most congested city in North America. Even though New York recently introduced congestion pricing—charging drivers extra to enter certain areas during busy hours—Chicago still surpassed it in yearly hours lost.
In the meantime, Los Angeles is still a classic example of a city with difficult traffic, although it’s not the first position anymore.
New York
New York is still one of the cities where driving is complicated. Delays are over 100 hours per year for each driver, how crazy is that? This happens because:
It’s one of the most populated cities in the country.
A lot of people travel every day into the city from nearby suburbs.
Its streets and highways are packed almost all the time.
Traffic in Los Angeles and other cities
Although Los Angeles is not in the first position, it’s still facing very heavy traffic. This city has several factors that makes driving complicated:
The city is huge and very spread out.
Most people rely on cars for daily life.
There are limited alternatives to driving.
Major freeways like the I-405 and US-101 are known for constant slowdowns.
However, Los Angeles is not the only city struggling with this issue. Here’s a list of other cities going through the same thing:
Philadelphia
Boston
Miami
Atlanta
Houston
Washington, D.C.
Seattle
Philadelphia
Even though Philadelphia doesn’t show up in headlines about traffic, its residents have to deal with this issue every single day. So, the city has:
An old and outdated road system.
Limited space to make the roads wider.
Enormous amounts of traffic passing through narrow corridors.
Two major highways—I-76 (the Schuylkill Expressway) and I-95—play a big role in this problem. These routes carry huge numbers of cars daily, but they were built decades ago, making it difficult to keep traffic flowing smoothly.
