This Northeast city is the worst place to own a car, new study says
Owning a car offers freedom and convenience, but it also comes with stress. As with most big purchases, the state you live in can have a huge impact on costs, and a new study confirms that car ownership in coastal cities can be a time consuming and expensive experience.
According to SmartAsset, a personal finance advice site, Newark, NJ, is the worst city in the United States to own a car. Why? Newark’s proximity to New York City makes traffic a nightmare, as nearly 5 million people in the metro area attempt to drive to work every day. This gridlock costs the average driver $1,739 in traffic costs, due to travel time and extra fuel consumed while idling.
To compile its list, SmartAsset looked at several factors of car ownership, including number of hours spent in traffic, annual cost of traffic, the number of repair shops, accessibility to parking garages, stress, public transportation options and theft.
Speaking of theft, Newark is also a tough on car owners because, well, your car might get stolen. According to the New Jersey State Police, there were 2,412 total motor vehicle thefts in Newark in 2014. That is equal to 8.66 car thefts per 1,000 residents. In comparison, Arlington, Va. had the lowest number of thefts per capita on SmartAsset’s list, with 157 thefts a year, or 0.7 thefts per 1,000 residents.
Meanwhile, over on the West Coast, SmartAsset named San Francisco the second-worst city for drivers. While the views are scenic and the weather mild, San Franciscans spend about $1,600 a year on traffic-related expenses. In fact, the average driver there sits in traffic for about 78 hours every year.
Rounding out the top three is Washington, DC, where the average commuter spends a whopping 82 hours in traffic every single year. That wait time brings annual cost of traffic to $1,834 per commuter.
If you crave an urban environment but want less traffic and car thefts, there are a few cities where owning a car is difficult but manageable. Riverside, Calif., Minneapolis and Philadelphia, all came at the bottom of the list, making them the the best of the worst cities to drive a car.
See the full report from SmartAsset here.
Brittany is a writer at Yahoo Finance.
More:
American Airlines introduces Basic Economy class. Is it worth it?
