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These Cities Have the Best (and Worst) Drivers in the U.S., According to Allstate

Some cities are better for drivers than others.
ByJake Rossen|
Most likely snapped in a northeastern city.
Most likely snapped in a northeastern city. | Rick Doyle/GettyImages

The average automobile driver has a statistical likelihood of getting into an accident once every 10 years. While those odds can change depending on one’s own safe driving habits, drivers are often at the mercy of the abilities and behaviors of other drivers on the road.

Recently, auto insurance company Allstate used its own claims data to assess which U.S. cities rank among the most (and least) safe when it comes to driving. The information was culled from cases in 2022 and 2023 and focused on the 200 most populous cities in the country. The fewer the claims, the greater the chance of navigating the city without getting your fender bended.

  1. The 10 Safest U.S. Cities for Drivers
  2. The 10 U.S. Cities With the Most Car Accidents

The 10 Safest U.S. Cities for Drivers

  1. Brownsville, Texas
  2. Boise, Idaho
  3. Fort Collins, Colorado
  4. Cary, North Carolina
  5. Laredo, Texas
  6. Olathe, Kansas
  7. Scottsdale, Arizona
  8. Port St. Lucie, Florida
  9. Madison, Wisconsin
  10. Eugene, Oregon

Brownsville, Texas, (population 185,000) bucks the trend of the 10-year collision average; typical drivers there go 14 years between mishaps. Laredo is another Texas locale in the top 10, and two more Texas cities—McAllen and Corpus Christi—appear in the top 20.

While most of the metros have warmer climates, inclement weather is not necessarily disqualifying. Fort Collins, Colorado, gets an average snowfall of 6.7 inches during the month of January, but drivers maintain enough control to come in third.

Wondering where the northeast cities are? They’re more commonly found toward the bottom of the list.

The 10 U.S. Cities With the Most Car Accidents

  1. Boston, Massachusetts
  2. Washington, D.C.
  3. Baltimore, Maryland
  4. Worcester, Massachusetts
  5. Springfield, Massachusetts
  6. Glendale, California
  7. Los Angeles, California
  8. Oakland, California
  9. Providence, Rhode Island
  10. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Boston takes the ignoble crown, with an average of just three years between accidents for drivers. Relative to the national average, Bostonians are 244 percent more likely to get into a collision. That’s nearly twice as risky as such driver-unfriendly cities as Philadelphia (6 years) and Los Angeles (5.5 years).

While you can’t control bad drivers, you can improve your odds when it comes to other road hazards. According to defensive driving expert James Solomon, pulling over and letting the worst of a downpour pass is usually better than navigating in low-visibility conditions (though not at an underpass, where oncoming traffic could clip you); keeping headlights dim in heavy fog is better than trying your brights, which can reduce visibility when it reflects off water particulates.

So, do riskier cities suffer higher auto insurance rates? Not necessarily. Allstate claims the report isn’t used to calculate rates.

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