Which City Has the WORST Traffic?

As any stressed-out commuter can tell you, traffic is bad for your health.

Not only can time spent in traffic wreak havoc on your emotional health and stress levels, but also it can damage your sleep cycle, lungs, heart and brain.

The air pollution from traffic has recently been shown to increase risk for heart disease and stroke, as well as lung diseases, such as COPD and poor cognitive performance. One recent study even linked traffic noise to an increased risk of ADHD in children.

Traffic can be so harmful to kids, in fact, that living near a busy road can cause enough lung damage to trigger asthma, making traffic pollution as harmful as secondhand smoke, a study published in the European Respiratory Journal found earlier this year.

So just how much time do we spend inhaling dangerous traffic pollution? If you live in Raleigh, N.C., you spend about 12 hours every year in traffic, according to the annual INRIX Traffic Scorecard, which tracks traffic and city congestion data around the world.

If you live in Dallas, Texas, you spend twenty-one hours every year in traffic. In Washington, D.C., that figure jumps to a whopping 41 hours annually – and that’s not even the worst city on the list.

To see how traffic and congestion affects your region, check out the list of the most-congested cities in America in the slideshow above.

For more on air pollution and your health, see the list of the most-polluted cities in America below, previously released by the American Lung Association.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: The Most-Polluted Cities in America