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Traffic and Los Angeles go hand in hand, as most Angelenos (and beyond) know very well. But a new study shows that L.A. is one of the worst cities for traffic in the world.
According to a new report from INRIX, a transportation analytics firm, L.A. ranks #10 on its 2025 Global Traffic Scorecard. Considering factors across 900 metropolitan cities like travel delay, costs of congestion to drivers and regions, and commuting trends, INRIX created a ranking system that shares the economic cost of congestion as hours lost per year.
At #10, L.A. residents lose about 87 hours a year to traffic congestion. In other words, we spend over three entire days a year in the car, driving in traffic.
The study describes traffic congestion as when the “demand for roadway travel exceeds the supply of roadways. As vehicular traffic builds, drivers, freight movers, and bus riders lose time and spend fuel unproductively. That ‘lost time’ has a value.”
The study also factored in fuel costs and pointed out that global oil prices have resulted in a small decrease in fuel costs to motorists in 2025. The report believes this lost time in traffic decreases our quality of life. The report also says that traffic congestion went down 1% in 2024, when the city ranked #8 with 88 hours.
According to the L.A. Times, experts believe the spread of empty offices across downtown L.A. and evolving commuter habits since the pandemic are still changing the city’s landscape. In not so many words, they also point out that the traffic was so terrible that it can really only get better from here.
It might be improving numbers-wise, but experts say residents aren’t likely to feel the 1% difference.
Did any other U.S. cities make the list?
L.A. is one of four U.S. cities in the Top 10, beat out by Chicago (#3), NYC (#4), and Philadelphia (#5).
Here’s the Top 10 ranking:
- Istanbul, Turkey
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- New York City, New York, USA
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Cape Town, South Africa
- London, England
- Paris, France
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- Los Angeles, California, USA
Do you agree with the list?
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