Philadelphia ranked as worst city in the nation to drive in, 2026 study finds

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia is the 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 Philadelphia 100th 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.

Philadelphia received an overall score of 36.35 out of 100.

Why Philadelphia ranked last

What we know:

Philadelphia ranked 97th for traffic and infrastructure and 96th for safety. It also placed 85th for the cost of owning and maintaining a vehicle and 76th for access to vehicles and maintenance.

Among the individual measures, Philadelphia ranked:

• 65th for annual hours spent in congestion per auto commuter
• 95th for accident likelihood compared with the national average
• 91st for car-theft rate
• 93rd for auto-repair shops per capita
• 65th for average gas prices
• 73rd for auto-maintenance costs
• 78th for average parking rates

WalletHub said Americans lose an average of $894 each year because of time spent in traffic.

How the study worked

Dig deeper:

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

Big picture view:

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, New York ranked 97th and Washington ranked 99th.

Full ranking: Best and worst cities to drive in

Philadelphia