With traffic congestion costing U.S. drivers $88 billion in 2019, but driving reduced in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, personal finance website WalletHub has released its report on "2021's Best and Worst States" for driving. 

New Jersey bombed in the rankings, coming in as the 9th worst state to drive in. The area where the Garden State did the worst was traffic and congestion.

New Jersey is one of the most densely populated states in the nation, with rush-hour traffic congestion and stormy seasons, WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez explained. The average commute time is longer than most in other states, the report found.

New Jersey ranked 5th worst when it comes to road quality.

The other thing that is quite expensive is just owning a car in New Jersey. The state ranks 39th best in that category. Auto insurance premiums and car repairs are more costly than they are in other states.

But with all this bad news comes a bright spot for New Jersey. That would be in the area of safety, where it ranked in the Top 10 as a result of many people wearing seatbelts and low rates of car thefts.

Texas is the best state to drive in followed by Indiana, North Carolina, Iowa and Tennessee. On the flip side, Hawaii is the worst state to drive in with California as the second worst state. Washington state is third followed by Maryland and Delaware to round out the bottom five.

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