US drivers lost 42 hours — a full work week — to traffic in 2023: Congestion ‘hinders economic growth,' expert says

The United States is home to some of the most congested cities in the world.

The 2023 Global Traffic Scorecard report by INRIX, a transportation analytics company, found the typical U.S. driver lost 42 hours to traffic congestion — the equivalent of a full work week — that resulted in $733 worth of time lost.

Congestion cost the U.S. more than $70.4 billion in 2023, a 15% increase from 2022. The report also states the return to the office post-Covid has continued to affect other modes of transportation.

In the U.S., transit ridership is down 28% from 2019 levels, though ridership grew 15% over 2022.

"More people over the last few decades have been moving into urban areas and that's a global phenomenon," Bob Pishue, a transportation analyst at INRIX, tells CNBC Make It. "As they do that, we do see more congestion. It is a reflection of a good economy, but it can also hinder economic growth because it comes at a cost."

The report measured the change in average peak period travel times across more than 15 months. It states that the 2023 scorecard incorporated three years of historical data to provide a complete year-over-year comparison.

To rank the cities, INRIX looked at travel delay comparisons, collision trends, last-mile speeds, economic costs and time lost.

Pishue says the biggest takeaway from the report was that of the urban areas studied globally, 78% saw increased traffic delays in 2023. In addition, the report shows that because the number of people working from home is still above what it was pre-Covid, it has changed the way people travel.

"What we're seeing is instead of a morning peak, then a midday peak and then an afternoon peak and traffic, the congestion is much more gradually building throughout the day," he added. "That's huge because it has planning implications."

The U.S. city with the worst traffic: New York City

Drivers in NYC lost 101 hours to traffic jams, compared to 105 in 2022. These delays cost the average driver $1,762 and the city $9.1 billion, according to the INRIX report.

The New York urban area is more congested than it was pre-pandemic, where drivers lost an average of 91 hours to traffic jams.

Pishue says New York City, along with San Francisco and Washington D.C., saw their downtown traffic fall significantly right after Covid, but it's the first metro area of the three to bounce back.

"New Yorkers just do things differently compared to those other areas," he adds. "The diversity of business and industry in Manhattan actually got people back into the city a little bit faster than some of these other tech-heavy or government-heavy cities," he adds. "It also shows that it still has a traffic problem, which is evidenced by all the talks around congestion pricing."

Top 10 U.S. cities with the worst traffic

1. New York City
2. Chicago, Ill.
3. Los Angeles, Calif.
4. Boston, Mass.
5. Miami, Fla.
6. Philadelphia, Pa.
7. Washington D.C.
8. Houston, Texas
9. Atlanta, Ga.
10. Seattle, Wash.

Chicago is the No. 2 U.S. city with the worst traffic delays in 2023. On a global scale, the city ranked No. 5, after Paris, France.

In Chicago, drivers lost 96 hours in 2023 and $1,672 worth of time lost. Overall, the congestion cost the city $6.1 billion last year.

"Chicago has a somewhat similar issue to New York in the sense that it has a very dense downtown," Pishue says.

The city is home to iconic places like the Chicago Riverwalk, Cloud Gate ("The Bean"), Grant Park, and the famous baseball stadium, Wrigley Field, which is also home to the Chicago Cubs.