Worst Cities In CA For Driving: LIST

CALIFORNIA – Many Americans spend much of their lives behind the wheel. In fact, Americans spend an average of more than 17,600 minutes – or 293 hours – driving each year, according to a 2016 survey from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

A new report by WalletHub ranked the best and worst cities for driving, and not surprisingly, a number of California cities came in as the worst places to get behind the wheel.

But experts at the personal finance website didn't just consider traffic to come up with the rankings. The study's authors compared the 100 most populated cities across four key dimensions, including auto safety, traffic conditions and infrastructure, vehicles and maintenance access, and ownership and maintenance costs.

A total of 17 California cities made WalletHub's 2018 list – the most of any state and the same cities that made the rankings last year. This year, only Irvine landed in the better half of the list at the 34th spot. The remaining California cities ranked in the bottom 50.

Three California cities ranked among the top 10 worst cities for driving. Los Angeles landed the 92nd spot, while Oakland came in 98th and San Francisco came in 99th. Detroit, Michigan, beat out San Francisco this year as the worst city in the country for driving.

Also see: California Drivers Among Worst In Country: Report

Raleigh, North Carolina, came in as the best city for driving. Corpus Christi, Texas, which ranked first last year, fell to second place this year. Orlando, Florida; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Plano, Texas, rounded out the top five best cities for driving, respectively, according to the report.

Also see: 2017's Best And Worst California Cities For Driving

Click here to read the full report and methodology. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news from your California neighborhood. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

These are the cities in California that made the rankings. National rankings are in parenthesis:

1. Irvine (34)
2. Sacramento (53)
3. Riverside (54)
4. Fresno (55)
5. Chula Vista (61)
6. Fremont (64)
7. Bakersfield (65)
8. Anaheim (69)
9. San Diego (71)
10. Santa Ana (73)
11. Stockton (80)
12. Long Beach (84)
13. San Bernardino (87)
14. San Jose (88)
15. Los Angeles (92)
16. Oakland (98)
17. San Francisco (99)

Other best vs. worst facts, according to WalletHub:

• Greensboro, North Carolina, residents spend the fewest annual hours in traffic congestion per auto commuter, four, which is 25.5 times fewer than in Los Angeles, California, the city where residents spend the most at 102.
• Gilbert, Arizona, has the fewest car thefts (per 1,000 residents), 0.49, which is 33.1 times fewer than in Oakland, California, the city with the most at 16.23.
• Oklahoma City has the lowest average gas price, $2.58 per gallon, which is 1.5 times lower than in San Francisco, California, the city with the highest at $3.85 per gallon.
• Riverside, California, has the lowest average parking rate, $1.43 per two hours, which is 19.2 times lower than in Buffalo, New York, the city with the highest at $27.44 per two hours.

Hover over the map to see each city's ranking:

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