SEATTLE — Seattle is a city that ranks highly in many important factors, but a new report indicates that it is far from the best city for drivers.
WalletHub found Seattle was No. 92 among the top 100 most populous U.S. cities to drive in. The company's rankings took 30 metrics that connect to driver-friendliness across four overall categories: cost of ownership and maintenance, traffic and infrastructure, safety and access to vehicles and maintenance.
Where Seattle scored the worst was in the cost of ownership and maintenance (84th), average gas prices (89th), auto maintenance costs (80th), traffic and infrastructure (81st) and unsurprisingly, number of days with precipitation (tied for 98th).
"I mean, let's face it, people's behaviors change when there's bad weather, not always in a good way," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.
WalletHub also found that the average commute time in Seattle is about 33 minutes. The analysis only covers the city of Seattle itself, and not the surrounding metro area.
On the other hand, Seattle scored highly in the driving law score (2nd), number of alternative fuel stations per capita (6th) and average cost of a new car (7th).
Overall, WalletHub found that drivers spent an average of nearly 370 hours on the road and the collective cost per driver was around $733 a year.
In September, ConsumerAffairs found that Seattle's traffic ranked the third-worst among 49 U.S. major metro areas. Only Los Angeles was found to have more average daily congestion than the Seattle area.
Seattle-area drivers lost an average of 58 hours in traffic delays in 2023 per INRIX. This was a 12-hour increase from 2022, the largest jump of any major U.S. metro area year-over-year, per INRIX.
