New York ranks among the five worst U.S. cities to drive in for 2026, but it's not No. 1
TOPSHOT - The Manhattan skyline is seen at sunrise from the 86th floor observatory of the Empire State Building on April 3, 2021, in New York City. - The Empire State Building, a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, opened during the G
NEW YORK - New York ranked as the fourth-worst city in the country to drive in among the nation’s 100 largest cities, according to a new WalletHub study.
The personal-finance website ranked New York 97th overall in its 2026 list of the Best and Worst Cities to Drive In. The study compared cities across 30 measures involving driving costs, traffic and infrastructure, safety, and access to vehicles and maintenance.
New York received an overall score of 38.27 out of 100.
Why New York ranked near the bottom
What we know:
New York ranked 100th for traffic and infrastructure, the lowest score in that category among the cities studied. It also ranked 87th for the cost of owning and maintaining a vehicle and 83rd for access to vehicles and maintenance.
The city’s safety ranking was notably stronger, at 21st overall.
Among the individual measures, New York ranked:
- 65th for annual hours spent in congestion per auto commuter
- 52nd for accident likelihood compared with the national average
- 19th for car-theft rate
- 100th for auto-repair shops per capita
- 64th for average gas prices
- 100th for auto-maintenance costs
- 79th for average parking rates
WalletHub said Americans lose an average of $894 each year because of time spent in traffic.
How the study worked
By the numbers:
WalletHub compared the country’s 100 largest cities using 30 indicators of how driver-friendly each city is. The measures included gas prices, traffic congestion, accident likelihood, car-theft rates, road conditions, parking costs and repair-shop access.
A lower numerical rank is better in the study. The rankings are based on WalletHub’s methodology and are not a measure of any individual driver’s experience.
Who ranked best
The other side:
Scottsdale, Arizona, ranked first overall, followed by Boise, Idaho, and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
In the region, Pittsburgh ranked 62nd, Newark ranked 87th, Jersey City ranked 88th, Baltimore ranked 92nd, Washington ranked 99th and Philadelphia ranked 100th.
Full ranking: Best and worst cities to drive in
The Source: This article was written using information from WalletHub’s 2026 Best and Worst Cities to Drive In report.