It’s no shock that the DMV area has some of the worst traffic in the nation, and while some might argue that some of America’s worst drivers call the area home as well, the district was never officially considered to have the worst traffic in the country. Unfortunately, that’s now changed.
According to a new study by the consumer research firm ConsumerAffairs, the traffic around the capital city’s metro area has been officially crowned the worst in the nation.
Why does Washington, D.C. have the worst traffic in the nation?
The District took the top spot for worst traffic in America this year after the data revealed a few shocking statistics that may or may not shock the average Washingtonian.
Per the study, the average commute to work in D.C. was 33.4 minutes, right away stating that the average worker in the District spends over an hour in traffic daily! In fact, Washington, D.C. turned out to have the longest-lasting average traffic congestion during weekdays, with over 6.5 hours of low-speed traffic.
When that statistic is expanded and applied to a full year, the average Washingtonian spends roughly 71 DAYS in traffic per year.
However, it’s not all bad news. The District’s rate for fatal car crashes was the ninth lowest out of all the metro areas examined in the study – a rate of 5.95 fatal crashes per 100,000 people.
What methodology did this study follow?
To determine the American cities with the worst traffic, ConsumerAffairs’ research team looked at data from the 50 most populous U.S. metro areas, focusing on:
- Average commute times
- Time spent in traffic (hours)
- Frequency of fatal car crashes
You can read more about the national traffic study for 2025 by ConsumerAffairs here.