The Briefing
- America’s major cities are some of the most congested in the world
- In 2020, the average driver in New York City lost 100 hours due to traffic
How Many Hours Do Americans Lose to Traffic Congestion?
No one likes being stuck in traffic. But have you ever wondered how many hours it’s actually taking away from you?
In some of the biggest U.S. cities, the answer could be over 100 hours in a single year.
2020 was very unique, however, and traffic was less severe due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the average American driver lost 99 hours in 2019, compared to just 26 hours in 2020.
Nevertheless, drivers in America still lost a sizeable chunk of time throughout the year. To see exactly how much, we compiled data from INRIX to pinpoint the 10 most congested cities in America.
| City | Hours Lost in Congestion (2020) |
|---|---|
| New York City, NY | 100 |
| Philadelphia, PA | 94 |
| Chicago, IL | 86 |
| Boston, MA | 48 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 45 |
| San Francisco, CA | 47 |
| New Orleans, LA | 42 |
| Houston, TX | 35 |
| Miami, FL | 35 |
| Dallas, TX | 34 |
Unsurprisingly, America’s most populous city was also its most congested. As of 2020, New York City had a population of nearly 9 million people.
Going to a more granular level helps us identify New York City’s worst corridor: the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Daily traffic on the segment between I-495 and Tillary Street is estimated to have cost drivers approximately 30 hours in 2020.
What Could You Have Done Instead?
Here’s a list of things that the average New Yorker could have done with the 100 hours they lost to traffic.
| Activity | Number of Hours Required |
|---|---|
| Take 2.5 weeks off work | 100 |
| Walk through Central Park 100 times | 100 |
| Read Leo Tolstoy’s most famous novels, War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878) | 98 |
| Drive to Los Angeles and back (theoretical time which assumes no breaks are taken) |
84 |
| Watch the entire Game of Thrones TV series from beginning to end | 70 |
| Earn your private pilot license (actual flight training time) |
40 |
Source: Audible, FAA, Google Maps, Statista
Traffic is going to get worse as more people move to urban areas, but this doesn’t mean that all hope is lost.
The majority of traffic problems are caused by human behavior, meaning autonomous vehicles could reduce many of the inefficiencies that cause congestion. Unfortunately, Level 5 self-driving cars are still a ways off, despite the claims of Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Source: INRIX
Notes: “Hours lost” refers to the number of hours lost in congestion during peak commute periods compared to free flow conditions.
