A new 2025 study into the best and worst cities to drive in around the country was just shared by WalletHub, and the data confirms a lot of what Washingtonians have known for years: D.C. is one of the worst cities for drivers in the nation!
It’s already well known that D.C. traffic is the second-worst in the nation, this new study takes a closer look using several variables aside from traffic to rank the country’s best cities for drivers.
Here are all of those variables that factored into the ranking:
- Average cost of ownership & maintenance
- Cost of a new car
- Average gas price
- Average monthly car insurance premium
- Auto maintenance costs
- Total extra vehicle operating costs per driver
- Average parking rate
- Traffic & Infrastructure
- Annual hours spent in congestion per auto commuter
- Number of days with precipitation
- Number of cold days
- Average commute time by car (minutes)
- Number of alternative-fuel stations per capita
- Quality of roads
- Quality of bridges
- Roadway miles per 1,000 persons
- Waze driver satisfaction rating
- Safety
- Accident likelihood in the city vs the national average
- Traffic fatality rate per 100,000 of the local population
- Prevalence of adults wearing seatbelts
- Number of ‘hard-braking’ events per 1,000 miles
- Share of uninsured drivers
- Rate of car thefts
- Rate of larceny
- Strictness of DUI punishment
- Punitiveness of high-risk drivers’ insurance
- Driving laws score
- Access to vehicles and maintenance
- Car dealerships per capita
- Auto-repair shops per capita
- Car washes per capita
- Gas stations per capita
- Parking lots & garages per capita
What makes Washington, D.C. one of the worst cities in the nation for driving?
Sadly, in addition to the painfully slow traffic that the D.C. metro area is known for, the data states that the District is also one of the most dangerous for drivers in the nation.
Overall, the study ranked Washington, D.C. as follows:
- Overall rank – 98 out of 100 (Third worst in the nation)
- Total Score – 36.49
- Cost of ownership & maintenance rank – 72 out of 100
- Traffic & infrastructure rank – 96 out of 100 (Fifth worst in the nation)
- Safety rank – 99 out of 100 (Second worst in the nation)
- Access to vehicles & maintenance rank – 58 out of 100
What cities were ranked worse than the District?
Overall, the District was ranked the 3rd-worst city for drivers in the nation, but the cities that ranked even worse were Oakland, as the second-worst, and then Philadelphia, as the worst.
In terms of the specific categories where D.C. ranked the worst, here were the other cities that ranked even lower:
Traffic & infrastructure rank
- D.C. – #5 worst
- Philadelphia – #4 worst
- Jersey City – #3 worst
- Chicago – #2 worst
- New York – #1 worst
Safety
- Philadelphia – #5 worst
- St. Louis – #4 worst
- Detroit – #3 worst
- D.C. – #2 worst
- Memphis – #1 worst