The 10 U.S. Cities With the Worst (and Best) Commutes

The commute. We all do it. And since we all do it at roughly the same time, we all contribute to the dreaded “T” word.

Granted, volume is just one contributor to soul-crushing traffic. Poor road surfaces, inadequate public transportation, lack of major arterials and plain old driver incompetence can slow you down. The quant jocks at Texas A&M University have delved into the dirty data, and emerged with… a lot more data. For this list, we limited our gaze to cities with metro populations greater than 1 million.

The immediate takeaway? We feel for you, D.C.

1. Washington

Metro Pop.: 5.9 million

2. Los Angeles, Calif.

Metro Pop.: 12.8 million

3. San Francisco, Calif.

Metro Pop.: 7.4 million

4. New York, N.Y.

Metro Pop.: 20.1 million

5. San Jose, Calif.

Metro Pop.: 2.2 million

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But for those residing in the following cities…pinch yourselves. With only around eight minutes of traffic a day, these five—again, with metro populations over 1 million people—have beaten back traffic with an arsenal of highways, public transportation and limited construction.

1. Richmond, Va.

Metro Pop.: 1.2 million

2. Salt Lake City, Utah

Metro Pop.: 1.2 million

3. Milwaukee, W.I.

Metro Pop.: 2 million

4. Jacksonville, Fla.

Metro Pop.: 1.4 million

5. Cleveland, Ohio

Metro Pop.: 2.1 million