The “Worst Cities for Driving” Include a Lot of America’s Best Cities

11:33 AM EDT on June 18, 2014

Don't you just hate going to a really lively city with a pulsing street life? Where there's a lot going on and people can walk from one place to the next? You might if you're trying to drive there. And once again, NerdWallet has delivered the windshield perspective on America's cities.

Isn't Seattle such a horrible place? I mean, where would you park here? Photo: ##http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-vs-city/1409519-city-most-downtown-foot-traffic-20.html##City-Data## — Isn't Seattle such a horrible place? I mean, where would you park here? Photo: City-Data

The pop-finance website's new ranking of the worst cities to drive in includes, predictably, some of the country's best cities to walk, bike, take transit, or otherwise be in.

So, your worst cities? The real hellholes for drivers? They are:

New York
Detroit
San Francisco
Chicago
Washington, DC
Seattle
Boston
Miami
Honolulu
Oakland

Population density counted heavily against a city in the ranking, because it makes car ownership expensive and the streets more congested -- not to mention more chaotic to drive in because you're "weaving though trolleys, cab drivers, pedestrians and cyclists," as NerdWallet puts it.

Also factored in to a city's rank are the cost of gas and insurance (high insurance costs landed Detroit near the top) and hours of motorist delay, measured exactly the same way the Texas Transportation Institute measures it. Oh, and NerdWallet also holds it against a city if it has seasons, with precipitation.

Tanya Snyder

Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.

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