Few things are more frustrating for Houston drivers than sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. You're late, you're stuck, and you're wasting time and gas — every single day. It's no surprise that the Bayou City has ranked inside the top 10 in a new list of cities with the worst traffic.
The average Houston driver lost 62 hours to traffic delays in 2023, according to Inrix's latest Global Traffic Scorecard. That's 16 hours more than the time tallied in 2022, and 20 hours more than the national average of 42 hours lost. Ouch!
Trends across the country after the pandemic continue to contribute to congestion. Remote work has
led to a longer stretch of high-traffic hours instead of the usual pre-9 am and post-5 pm rush hour surges — and less predictable peaks at that.
"On any given day, everybody might be going into the office and no one is expecting it," David Schrank, a senior research scientist at Texas A&M Transportation Institute, told The Hill in June 2024. "What if next Monday everybody gets called in? Then boom — it's gridlock."
On top of that, truck-related congestion (as anyone driving across Texas knows) has increased with the continued rise of e-commerce and home delivery, with one truck equaling two to three cars on the road.
To see where congestion is the biggest problem nationwide, Stacker ranked the 25 cities in the U.S. with the most time lost per driver due to congestion, according to data from Inrix. Houston lands at No. 8, the worst in Texas. Of course, Houstonians don't need a new survey to tell them just how miserable our traffic is - as our late, beloved columnist Ken Hoffman expressed earlier this year.
Three other cities in Texas have made the top 25-worst list: Dallas is No. 17, Austin is No. 21, and San Antonio rounds out the whole list at No. 25.
Stacker's analysis includes how much delays cost drivers based on median hourly wages in each metro area, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and comparisons to pre-COVID-19 pandemic hours lost, measured in 2019. Inrix calculated commute times by looking exclusively at the time it takes to get to and from major employment centers based on anonymized GPS data.
Downtown speed is the speed at which a commuter should expect to travel 1 mile into the city's downtown or central business area during peak morning hours, and the first quarter of 2024 versus the first quarter of 2023 metric is the change in travel times during those two periods.
Read on to find out how Houston compared with other cities in the U.S. and Texas, including a city that topped (yikes!) 100 hours lost on average per driver.
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25. San Antonio
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 35 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: +17%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: +1%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $607
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $625 million
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- Average downtown speed: 19 mph
GagliardiPhotography // Shutterstock
24. New Orleans
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 37 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: +9%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -2%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $641
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $329 million
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- Average downtown speed: 14 mph
Khairil Azhar Junos // Shutterstock
23. King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 53 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -18%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -5%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $918
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $9 million
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- Average downtown speed: 22 mph
Sean Xu // Shutterstock
22. Denver
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 37 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -11%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -4%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $640
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $831 million
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- Average downtown speed: 14 mph
GagliardiPhotography // Shutterstock
21. Austin
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 38 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -14%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -3%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $663
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $632 million
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- Average downtown speed: 16 mph
arbsimages // Shutterstock
20. Stamford, Connecticut
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 41 hours
- --- Change from pre-COVID: +12%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -8%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $706
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $265 million
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- Average downtown speed: 13 mph
Hrach Hovhannisyan // Shutterstock
19. Portland, Oregon
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 39 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -8%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -2%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $679
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $665 million
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- Average downtown speed: 15 mph
Theodore Trimmer // Shutterstock
18. Honolulu
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 42 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -3%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -1%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $739
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $270 million
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- Average downtown speed: 17 mph
travelview // Shutterstock
17. Dallas
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 38 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: +12%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -3%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $658
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $2.2 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 16 mph
Grindstone Media Group // Shutterstock
16. Charlotte, North Carolina
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 41 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -10%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -2%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $711
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $794 million
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- Average downtown speed: 17 mph
4kclips // Shutterstock
15. Pittsburgh
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 43 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -14%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -9%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $749
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $724 million
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- Average downtown speed: 20 mph
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
14. Baltimore
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 44 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -24%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -7%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $762
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $905 million
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- Average downtown speed: 13 mph
seand67 // Shutterstock
13. San Francisco
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 45 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -6%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -6%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $787
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $1.3 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 12 mph
Marcus E Jones // Shutterstock
12. Nashville, Tennessee
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 56 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -8%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: +1%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $985
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $852 million
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- Average downtown speed: 20 mph
Nina Henry // Shutterstock
11. San Juan, Puerto Rico
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 57 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: +14%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -2%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $994
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $802 million
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- Average downtown speed: 20 mph
meunierd // Shutterstock
10. Seattle
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 58 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -11%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -1%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $1,010
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $1.6 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 17 mph
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
9. Atlanta
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 61 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -3%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -4%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $1,066
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $2.6 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 16 mph
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
8. Houston
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 62 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: +1%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -1%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $1,082
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $3.2 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 17 mph
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
7. Washington DC
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 63 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -9%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -4%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $1,095
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $2.7 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 11 mph
f11photo // Shutterstock
6. Philadelphia
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 69 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: +2%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -9%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $1,209
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $2.9 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 11 mph
Bilanol // Shutterstock
5. Miami
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 70 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: +18%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -1%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $1,219
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $3.1 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 14 mph
f11photo // Shutterstock
4. Boston
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 88 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -1%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -10%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $1,543
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $2.9 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 10 mph
JW.photography31 // Shutterstock
3. Los Angeles
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 89 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: -4%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -5%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $1,545
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $8.3 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 19 mph
Dennis MacDonald // Shutterstock
2. Chicago
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 96 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: +18%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -8%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $1,672
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $6.1 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 11 mph
Volodymyr TVERDOKHLIB // Shutterstock
1. New York City
- - Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 101 hours
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--- Change from pre-COVID: +11%
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--- Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -11%
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- 2023 cost per driver: $1,762
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- 2023 city-wide cost: $9.1 billion
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- Average downtown speed: 11 mph
Story by Ali Hickerson. Editing by Jaimie Etkin. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Ania Antecka.