Best And Worst Tech Cities For Drivers
Your commute, whether it's bumper-to-bumper or a breeze, can play a major role in your work-life balance. It can extend or take away hours from time with family and friends. We count down the top tech cities that have the most and least traffic congestion.
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Getting stuck in traffic congestion cost American drivers 6.9 billion hours and $160 billion, collectively, or 42 hours and $960 per commuter last year, according to the 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and big data analytics company INRIX.
For those who strive for work-life balance, time spent sitting in gridlock doesn't contribute anything of value to work or life. It's time wasted that can never be gotten back. Even for non-drivers, congestion affects lifestyle and environment. It's not only a big-city problem. The study found urban areas of all sizes are affected.
To show how major tech hubs ranked, we compiled a list of the five tech centers with the most traffic congestion and the five with the least traffic. We also list the cost each commuter pays in lost time and fuel annually due to gridlock in each of those cities, according to the study.
For the purposes of this list, we identified "tech centers" based on a report from 24/7 Wall St., which highlights the metropolitan areas that have the highest percentages of workers employed in tech industries.
[See 12 Questions To Ask Before Accepting An IT Job.]
The Urban Mobility Scorecard's findings were drawn from traffic speed data collected by INRIX on 1.3 million miles of urban streets and highways, along with highway performance data from the Federal Highway Administration.
While this list may not inspire you to pick up and move to an area with fewer traffic issues, it may help in formulating career plans. Combine this with our recent lists of the top paying colleges, the cities where your paycheck goes the farthest, the hottest jobs for 2016, and the job roles with the best work-life balance and you might have the formula for building your optimal career in IT.
Take a look at the data from the 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard, and tell us what you do to beat the traffic.
63: Average number of hours each auto commuter spends in traffic per year
$1,491: Annual cost per auto commuter due to congestion
64: Average number of hours each auto commuter spends in traffic per year
$1,388: Annual cost per auto commuter due to congestion
67: Average number of hours each auto commuter spends in traffic per year
$1,422: Annual cost per auto commuter due to congestion
78: Average number of hours each auto commuter spends in traffic per year
$1,675: Annual cost per auto commuter due to congestion
82: Average number of hours each auto commuter spends in traffic per year
$1,834: Annual cost per auto commuter due to congestion
42: Average number of hours each auto commuter spends in traffic per year
$887: Annual cost per auto commuter due to congestion
37: Average number of hours each auto commuter spends in traffic per year
$1,059: Annual cost per auto commuter due to congestion
35: Average number of hours each auto commuter spends in traffic per year
$837: Annual cost per auto commuter due to congestion
34: Average number of hours each auto commuter spends in traffic per year
$734: Annual cost per auto commuter due to congestion
21: Average number of hours each auto commuter spends in traffic per year
$708: Annual cost per auto commuter due to congestion
Do you live, work, and commute in any of the most congested traffic areas? What's your daily commute like? How much does traffic impact your work-life balance? Tell us all about it in the comments section below.
Do you live, work, and commute in any of the most congested traffic areas? What's your daily commute like? How much does traffic impact your work-life balance? Tell us all about it in the comments section below.
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