Surprise, Tampa Isn’t The Most Clogged City Like Many Thought It Was
It might come as a shock to hear that Tampa is not the world’s most clogged city, and actually it’s not even ranked in the top 10. According to a traffic study by Inrix Global Traffic Scoreboard, Tampa ranked the 31st worst out of 240 cities in the U.S. and 202nd in the world. Commuters spent seven percent of their time in congestion in 2016.
In fact, Miami ranked a lot higher than Tampa when it came to traffic congestion ranking 11th in the world. Los Angeles was the most clogged city in the world, because drivers spent 104 hours each driving in congestion during peak travel periods last year.
Moscow came in second with 91 hours and New York came in third with 89. According to the study, U.S. drivers averaged 42 hours per year in traffic during peak times. That cost U.S. drivers about $1,400 last year while being stuck in traffic and nearly $300 billion for all drivers nationwide.
The study analyzed 1,064 cities worldwide throughout 38 countries in order to get these rankings. However, since Inrix doesn’t gather its own date in China and Japan, cities in those countries were not included in the rankings.
“Population and economic growth alongside continued urbanization are the root causes of congestion. As cities strive to update or expand aging infrastructure, the application of big data and analytics to understand and help combat traffic congestion is crucial to the health and development of our cities,” said the Inrix website.
Below is a list of the top 25 most congested cities in the world from Inrix’s study.
| City | 2016 All Cities Rank (2015) | 2016 INRIX Traffic Scorecard Rank (2015) | Hours Spent in Congestion | ICI | Peak | Daytime | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Los Angeles, CA |
1 (2) | 1 (2) | 104.1 | 18.6 | 22% | 12% | 13% |
 Moscow |
2 (1) | 2 (1) | 91.4 | 19.9 | 33% | 30% | 25% |
| New York, NY |
3 (8) | 3 (7) | 89.4 | 17.4 | 19% | 12% | 13% |
| San Francisco, CA |
4 (11) | 4 (9) | 82.6 | 14.4 | 22% | 11% | 13% |
 Bogota |
5 (7) | 5 (6) | 79.8 | 17 | 41% | 33% | 32% |
 Sao Paulo |
6 (10) | 6 (8) | 77.2 | 15.8 | 28% | 21% | 21% |
 London |
7 (5) | 7 (5) | 73.4 | 13.9 | 19% | 12% | 13% |
| Magnitogorsk |
8 (61) | — | 71.1 | 17.5 | 42% | 38% | 42% |
| Atlanta, GA |
9 (14) | 8 (11) | 70.8 | 12.2 | 18% | 8% | 10% |
 Paris |
10 (15) | 9 (12) | 65.3 | 11.8 | 19% | 10% | 11% |
| Miami, FL |
11 (18) | 10 (14) | 64.8 | 11.8 | 14% | 8% | 9% |
 Bangkok |
12 (30) | 11 (20) | 64.1 | 12.6 | 33% | 23% | 23% |
 Caracas |
13 (9) | — | 62.6 | 11.8 | 36% | 27% | 21% |
 Mexico City |
14 (3) | 12 (3) | 61.5 | 12.9 | 17% | 14% | 13% |
| Washington, DC |
15 (40) | 13 (26) | 61 | 10.5 | 20% | 9% | 11% |
| Dallas, TX |
16 (28) | 14 (19) | 59.4 | 9.9 | 12% | 5% | 7% |
 Istanbul |
17 (22) | 15 (16) | 58.6 | 12.2 | 25% | 20% | 19% |
| Boston, MA |
18 (47) | 16 (28) | 57.6 | 10.2 | 23% | 11% | 13% |
| Chicago, IL |
19 (36) | 17 (23) | 56.6 | 10.1 | 17% | 9% | 10% |
| Kansk |
20 (50) | — | 56 | 13.9 | 33% | 31% | 34% |
| Krasnodar |
21 (16) | 18 (13) | 56 | 12 | 31% | 28% | 24% |
 Jakarta |
22 (82) | 19 (39) | 55 | 11.8 | 22% | 19% | 17% |
| Seattle, WA |
23 (38) | 20 (25) | 54.8 | 9.6 | 22% | 12% | 13% |
| Belem |
24 (72) | — | 54.6 | 12 | 33% | 30% | 26% |
 Zurich |
25 (37) | 21 (24) | 53.5 | 9.5 | 30% | 16% | 18% |
