The 10 best cities for commuters
If traffic jams are the worst part of your workday, you'll like these places. There's no guarantee you can find a job in one of them, but if you do, you can get to it easily.
If the daily slog through rush-hour gridlock is wearing through your tires, your psyche and your pocketbook, consider our list of the 10 U.S. cities with the easiest, most affordable commutes. To make the cut, our cities all had to have a metro population of at least 1 million and a low congestion cost.We also factored in the average length of a commute, local gas prices, yearly delays per commuter and public transit use.
Our winners have some shared characteristics. Their congestion costs all fall below $550 per person . Some have seen massive declines in population, clearing out roadways built for heavier travel. Others have the advantages of excellent road networks and lots of urban parking lots. All have some of the happiest, least stressed commuters in the country.
Hartford, the capital of Connecticut, edged out another state capital, Sacramento, Calif., for the last spot on our list of easy, affordable commutes. The city offers a free downtown circulator bus service called the Star Shuttle. There are 45 parking garages downtown, some of which are free, and there's plenty of on-street parking.
At the intersection of the Watterson (I-264) and Gene Snyder (I-265) highways, Louisville offers 13 city-owned downtown parking garages and six lots. Commuters can buy monthly parking permits or use prepaid parking meter smart cards, which refund the minutes you don't use. Commutes are short and congestion is low.
Most Kansas City commuters drive, taking advantage of the city's flat, expansive highway system. Its downtown features easy access from I-70, I-35 and U.S. 71. Parking is abundant, with nearly 22,000 parking spots downtown. Prices vary, but many spots are free. Gas is relatively cheap.
Greater Cincinnati's population of more than 2 million hardly clogs up the roads. And 3.2% of local residents use public transit, which includes two bus services: The METRO, owned by the Ohio city itself, and Kentucky's TANK service. Cincinnati also plans to add a streetcar to the mix, a major project that seeks to replicate transit systems in Atlanta and Seattle.
Cleveland boasts the highest rate of public transit users on our list, with 4.8% of its residents taking advantage of the city's buses and trolleys. Last October, the Ohio city opened its $9.6 million Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transit Center, a downtown bus hub. Population losses have made its heavy-duty highway system a boon for commuters.
Snow happens in Buffalo. But congestion hardly does. The 1.4-mile, 110-foot-tall Skyway offers a fast journey from South Buffalo to downtown (although ice sometimes makes it impassable). Buffalo's population has shrunk by half in the past 60 years, and the upside of that is easy driving for those who remain.
Richmond is easily traveled by car, with several major highways feeding right through the center of the city. Average temperatures rarely dip below freezing, giving Virginia's capital city great commuting weather. The nightmare congestion of I-95 around Washington, D.C., 120 miles to the north is far, far away. Gas prices are lower than the national average, too.
Located at the crux of I-95 and I-195, Providence, the capital of the Ocean State, boasts convenient highway access. In addition to 40 parking garages, the city has more than 1,000 on-street parking spaces that cost about $1 per hour. Yearly fuel wasted here is about half the national average.
Columbus, Ohio
What else can you expect from a city whose mayor, Michael B. Coleman, is nicknamed "Bikin' Mike"? Columbus supports a bicycle-friendly commuter culture while pouring money into its roadways. Over the past several years, the capital of the Buckeye State has teamed up with the Ohio Department of Transportation to improve safety and conditions on its I-70/I-71 corridor.
Our easiest city for commuters boasts an annual congestion cost that is $100 less than our runner-up. Residents spend a mere 19 minutes on average commuting to work, compared with a national average of 25 minutes. A "Roc-City" commuter's chief challenge is the snowfall, which averages about 100 inches annually. But local drivers are snow pros: It's not uncommon to see homemade plows clearing alleys and driveways after a particularly heavy snowfall.
