With U.S. traffic congestion costing U.S. drivers $87 billion in 2018 and the U.S. ranked 17th in the world in road quality, WalletHub has released its report on 2020’s Best & Worst States to Drive in — and, suffice it to say, California did not fare well.

The only states in the nation that are worse to drive in than California are Washington, Rhode Island and Hawaii.

Congestion can lead to road rage, to accidents, and to being late for work. It not only can enrage you, but it’s taxing on your wallet. In fact, congestion not only cost U.S. drivers money in 2018, it cost them an average of 97 hours of their time. The U.S. also has three out of the world’s 25 worst cities for traffic, and 18 of the worst 25 in North America.

To determine the most driver-friendly states in the U.S., WalletHub, the personal-finance website, compared the 50 states across 31 key metrics. The data set ranges from average gas prices to share of rush-hour traffic congestion to road quality.

It is no secret that California motorists have a love affair with their vehicles. According to Statista, California had the most automobile registrations in 2017: More than 14.86 million such vehicles were registered in the most populous U.S. federal state. California also leads in terms of annual car sales with almost one million cars sold in 2017.

With that comes congestion, wear and tear on the vehicle, and wear and tear on the roads.

Driving in California (1=Best; 25=Avg.):

  • 42nd – Share of Rush-Hour Traffic Congestion
  • 46th – Car Theft Rate
  • 49th – Average Gas Prices
  • 31st – Auto-Maintenance Costs

For the best states in which to drive, check out this video:

For the full report, please click here. 

Image Sources

  • Congestion: Image by DrawnByShaun from Pixabay