U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Vehicle Technologies Program

Fact #290: October 20, 2003
Top 20 Congested Cities in the United States, 2001

According to the latest Annual Urban Mobility Report released by the Texas Transportation Institute, Los Angeles was the most congested city in the United States in 2001. An average 25-minute commute in Los Angeles increased to 43 minutes during times of congestion, which adds up to 90 extra hours spent in traffic during the course of a year.

  Urban Area Extra hours spent in traffic due to congestion, 2001
1 Los Angeles 90
2 San Francisco-Oakland 68
3 Buffalo, N.Y.-Niagara Falls 66
4 Denver 64
5 Miami-Hialeah, Fla. 63
6 Oklahoma City 63
7 Chicago-Northwestern Ind. 61
8 Phoenix 61
9 San Jose, Calif. 60
10 Boston 58
11 Portland, Ore.-Vancouver, B.C. 58
12 Washington, D.C.-Md.-Va. 58
13 Ft. Lauderdale.-Hollywood-Pompano Beach, Fla. 57
14 Seattle-Everett, Wash. 56
15 Atlanta 55
16 Houston 55
17 San Bernardino-Riverside, Calif 55
18 Detroit 54
19 Minneapolis-St. Paul 53
20 Dallas-Ft. Worth, Tex. 51

Source: Texas Transportation Institute, The 2003 Annual Urban Mobility Report (PDF 833 KB), September 2003. Download Adobe Reader.

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