Where rush hour is a way of life
10 Cities With the Worst Traffic in the World
Drivers in these cities lose entire weeks each year to gridlock. Here are ten of the most notoriously congested metropolises on the planet.
Traffic rankings from TomTom, INRIX and Numbeo each measure congestion a little differently, but the worst offenders rarely change. In these cities the average rush-hour speed can fall below 10 km/h, and a short cross-town errand can swallow an entire afternoon.
California, United States · pop. 3,878,718
Sprawling, freeway-dependent and famously car-shaped, LA is the United States' enduring icon of gridlock.
Île-de-France, France · pop. 2,133,111
The Périphérique, Paris's ring road, is famous for spending more time stationary than moving.
England, United Kingdom · pop. 8,908,083
Despite congestion charges and ULEZ, central London still posts some of Europe's slowest traffic speeds.
Moscow, Russia · pop. 13,274,285
Even with a 12-line metro, Moscow's wide radial avenues fill every evening with a slow crawl toward the suburbs.
Istanbul, Türkiye · pop. 15,701,602
Two continents, three bridges, and 16 million people: Istanbul's bottlenecks are literally geological.
Bangkok, Thailand · pop. 5,527,948
Bangkok's mix of motorbikes, tuk-tuks, taxis and trucks gave the world some of the original traffic-jam folklore.
Maharashtra, India · pop. 12,442,373
Mumbai's linear geography forces millions onto a handful of north–south corridors during every commute.
Bogotá, Colombia · pop. 8,181,047
Bogotá's Pico y Placa license-plate restrictions barely dent the congestion in this 8-million-person Andean capital.
Mexico City, Mexico · pop. 9,209,944
Mexico City's bowl-shaped valley traps both smog and the 5 million cars that fight through it each day.
Jakarta, Indonesia · pop. 10,467,629
Jakarta routinely tops global traffic indices — a sprawling metro of 30+ million served by famously overloaded toll roads and arterials.
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For entertainment only. Rankings on this page are editorial picks compiled from public sources for fun and discovery — they aren't a scientific measurement. Population figures and place details come from open data; see the linked place pages for sources.