Study Finds Sacramento, NorCal Cities Among The Worst To Drive In

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A new study has found that Sacramento is one of the worst cities for drivers in the US - and one Northern California even ranked dead last.

The study, released by WalletHub earlier this week, took into account 31 different indicators of "driver-friendliness" and compared them across the 100 largest cities in America. The factors include average gas prices, hours in traffic, as well as auto-repair shops per capita.

Taking all those factors into account, not a single California city cracked the top 50. Irvine, who came in at 59, got California's best overall score.

Most other California cities ranked in the lower quarter of the study.

Sacramento came in at number 85 on the list due to very poor rankings in cost of ownership and traffic. Stockton was several places lower at 90, but in some good news was also found to have the 5th lowest annual hours spent in traffic.

Los Angeles, notorious for its traffic, was unsurprisingly among the absolute worst in the list at 95 out of 100. However, the study ranked San Francisco and Oakland as even worse for drivers - with the "The Town" coming in dead last on the list.

Lincoln, Nebraska topped the list as the most driver-friendly. Five Texas cities were ranked within the top 20.

While the study appears to have been done based on data collected before the coronavirus pandemic, the authors found that people are relying on their personal cars more than usual due to the situation - noting that around 20 percent of people who didn't own a car are now considering buying one.