Illinois Is America’s 2nd Best State To Drive In

That news may come as a surprise to anyone who's just had their alignment jarred loose by a Rockford pothole.

But nonetheless, personal-finance site WalletHub ran the numbers, and Illinois comes away looking pretty good from a motorist's viewpoint.

In their latest piece, "2019’s Best & Worst States to Drive In," the numbers-crunchers at WalletHub took a look at a variety of factors:

The World Economics Forum only places the U.S. at rank 10 of 137 when it comes to road quality. Road conditions naturally aren’t consistent across the entire country. To identify the states with the most positive driving experiences, WalletHub compared all 50 states across 30 key indicators of a positive commute. Our data set ranges from average gas prices to share of rush-hour traffic congestion to road quality.

First, the top 5 best states in which to get behind the wheel:

1. Oregon
2. Illinois
3. Indiana
4. Iowa
5. Texas

Next the 5 worst states for the average motorist:

46. New Hampshire

47. California

48. Washington

49. Alaska

50. Hawaii

Back to Illinois, again:

Driving in Illinois (1=Best; 25=Avg.):

• 15^th – Share of Rush-Hour Traffic Congestion
• 10^th – Traffic Fatality Rate
• 16^th – Car Theft Rate
• 4^th – Auto-Repair Shops per Capita
• 24^th – Avg. Gas Prices
• 21^st – Road Quality
• 7^th – Car Dealerships per Capita

Check out WalletHub's complete piece, "2019’s Best & Worst States to Drive In" by clicking here.