These 15 Cities Have The Worst Traffic in The United States

If you ever feel like you spend the majority of your life sitting in a gross, snarling traffic jam, it's probably because you do. While certain towns have a reputation for epic congestion -- Los Angeles has long been the uncontested champion -- America's never-ending road-jam snakes its way throughout a broad swath of the country.

TomTom, the navigation company responsible for various consumer GPS products, released its annual traffic index, providing a glimpse of the worst cities for traffic around the world. Lo and behold, all cities in the top 15 have experienced some kind of increase in traffic levels since last year. Just two, on the other hand, have experienced no changes at all and have stayed the same.

The company conducted the research over a 9-year period, assessing traffic levels in reference to time of day across 189 cities. Each city was given a score out of 100, in a sort of traffic power-ranking that will be sure to make you long for an empty highway.

So without further ado, here's the full rankings in descending order:

  • Austin, Texas
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  • Atlanta, Georgia
  • San Diego, California
  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Honolulu, Hawaii
  • Portland, Oregon
  • Miami, Florida
  • San Jose, California
  • Seattle, Washington
  • New York, New York
  • San Francisco, California
  • Los Angeles, California

In browsing the full report, you'll notice that there's a 20-point disparity between Austin, which received a score of 25, and Los Angeles, which earned the top spot with a score of 45. According to TomTom's data, denizens of the Texas city spend 25% percent more time in the car than they would if traffic was otherwise normal. Los Angeles residents have to contend with double the headache, year-round.

Meanwhile, we're still waiting for Elon Musk's traffic-averting underground tunnel to become a reality.

[h/t Business Insider]