Only 8 Cities Have Bigger Driving Headaches Than NYC, Study Says

NEW YORK — They don't call it a concrete jungle for nothing. New York City's streets are among the nation's worst for drivers in addition to being dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists, according to a new study.

The personal finance website WalletHub ranked the 100 largest U.S. cities for their friendliness to drivers based on 30 key metrics in four categories: cost, safety, access to vehicles, and traffic and infrastructure.

New York City placed 92nd, meaning only eight cities cause drivers bigger headaches than the Big Apple, according to WalletHub.

Gotham ranked dead last in the traffic and infrastructure category, in part because of the city's hellish commutes. The average city driver spends 40.71 minutes commuting by car, a time that ranks 97th in the nation, according to WalletHub.

The five boroughs are also an expensive place to own a car as the city tied for the nation's most expensive parking rates and had the third-highest auto maintenance costs, the study shows.

But some drivers across the Hudson are even worse off, with Newark, New Jersey ranking 96th on WalletHub's list. The Motor City of Detroit ironically placed dead last, driven in part by that city's worst-in-the-nation safety ranking.

New York's streets remain dangerous for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists alike despite WalletHub saying it has the nation's best traffic fatality rate.

Some 148 people — roughly half of them pedestrians — had died in traffic crashes as of Monday, up from 119 in the same period last year, according to the city's Department of Transportation. And a total of 20 cyclists have been killed on city streets so far in 2019, twice the death toll for all of last year.

Here are the nation's 10 worst cities for driving, according to WalletHub. Read the full study here.

1. Detroit
2. Oakland, California
3. Philadelphia
4. San Francisco
5. Newark, New Jersey
6. Washington, D.C.
7. Seattle
8. Los Angeles
9. New York City
10. Honolulu