Florida tops California in new ranking — the worst state to drive in. Here’s how it compares

Hanh Truong
·2 min read
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Florida beats California in a new ranking — for being one of the worst states to commute in.

But that doesn’t mean California, infamous for its bad traffic, is the best, either.

Several California metropolitan cities are considered the worst commuter cities, according to a new ranking from Hire a Helper.

Hire a Helper, a moving service provider, released a study in March, listing cities to avoid if you hate commuting. It looked at 2021 data from the U.S. Census and made a weighted ranking based on factors such as average one-way commute time, the share of people who commute using private transportation, times people leave for work and population density.

The San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley area made it at No. 15 on the list for large metros — the better one of the worst cities.

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim ranked at No. 8 and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario landed at No. 2 for the worst metros to commute in. The average one-way commute time for the Los Angeles metro area is about 28.4 minutes, and 32.2 minutes for the Riverside area.

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford in Florida is the top city to avoid if you’re a commuter.

Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom is at No. 23.

In a separate list for mid-sized metros, Port St. Lucie in Florida ranked at No. 1, followed by Stockton at No. 2, Modesto at No. 3 and Vallejo at No. 4.

For small-sized metros, Florence-Muscle Shoals in Alabama ranked No. 1. California rounded out the top 5 on this list with Yuba City.

In ranking the states, Florida stays as the No. 1 city to avoid and California is at No. 8.

The average one-way commute time for Floridans is 27.1 minutes. For Californians, it’s 27.6 minutes. But Florida has a higher percentage of people using private transportation and a higher population density.

The full list entails:

  1. Florida

  2. Georgia

  3. South Carolina

  4. Texas

  5. New York

  6. Tennesee

  7. New Jersey

  8. California

  9. Alabama

  10. Maryland

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