A new study found Idaho is one of the best states to drive in. Just how high do we rank?
Nobody likes being stuck in traffic. Or the feeling of their tire dropping deep into a pothole before bouncing back out, shooting anything loose in the car high into the air. Or the costly repairs that go hand-in-hand with owning a vehicle.
Luckily for Idahoans, these issues don’t happen too often, according to a recent study from the personal finance website WalletHub.
WalletHub found Idaho to be the sixth-best state to drive in, ranking highly for the traffic and infrastructure and safety. Idaho ranked the highest in the northwest; Oregon ranked 24th while Washington is all the way down in 49th.
To determine the best and worst states to drive in, WalletHub used four key dimensions to formulate the rankings: Cost of ownership and maintenance, traffic and infrastructure, safety, and access to vehicles and maintenance.
Under those four dimensions are 31 relevant metrics, such as average gas prices (cost of ownership and maintenance), average commute time by car (traffic and infrastructure) and traffic fatality rate (safety).
Data was gathered from the American Automobile Association, National Insurance Crime Bureau and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, among other sources.
Idaho ranked 6th with a score of 60.51, narrowly below 5th-place North Carolina (60.65) and above 7th-place Texas (59.94). Under the key dimensions, Idaho ranked 24th in cost of ownership and maintenance, 2nd in traffic and infrastructure, 13th in safety and 42nd in access to vehicles and maintenance.
Under the 31 metrics, Idaho most notably ranked 4th best in car theft rates.
Who is Idaho competing with?
According to WalletHub, here are the states that Idaho is ranked alongside, along with their cumulative score:
1. Iowa (62.61)
2. Georgia (61.41)
3. Ohio (61.38)
4. Oklahoma (60.81)
5. North Carolina (60.65)
6. Idaho (60.51)
7. Texas (59.94)
8. Tennessee (59.68)
9. Kansas (59.60)
10. Indiana (59.04)
