The Washington metropolitan area ranks worst in the nation for traffic due to commutes and weekday congestion, according to a new ConsumerAffairs study.

Over the course of a year, Washington area drivers spend about 71 days stuck in traffic, according to the study.

The study looked at traffic in America’s 50 most populous metropolitan areas. The Washington metro area came in first for worst traffic, including the longest average commute among the cities surveyed at 33.4 minutes each day.

Local drivers also have to deal with the second-longest average weekday congestion, at 6.5 hours.

The Washington area came in second in the ConsumerAffairs traffic study last year, behind the Los Angeles metropolitan area, which ranked second for worst traffic this year.

The Los Angeles area has the sixth-highest daily average commute of 30.5 minutes and the longest average weekday congestion, at 7 hours and 51 minutes. 

The Baltimore metropolitan area also ranked poorly for traffic, coming in at ninth, one notch worse than the 2024 study. Baltimore is tied for the 12th-worst average commute time with Seattle and Miami, at 29.2 minutes, and the eighth-worst average weekday congestion time at 5 hours and 41 minutes.

The top 10 areas for worst traffic are Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Atlanta, the New York City area, Houston, Seattle, Baltimore and San Jose, California.

The 10 cities with the best traffic Rochester, New York; Salt Lake City; Cleveland; Hartford, Connecticut; St. Louis; Milwaukee; Columbus, Ohio; Fresno, California; Kansas City and Buffalo.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.