Memphis no longer has the worst drivers in America. See which city replaced it

After three long years, Memphis is officially no longer the city with the worst drivers in America.

ConsumerAffairs, a customer review and news service that collects and analyzes data to assess various aspects of American life, annually releases its rankings of the worst cities for drivers based on metrics such as the number of fatalities or crashes related to bad driving in a given year.

For the past three years, Memphis has ranked as the worst city for drivers, but 2026 introduced a new worst city.

According to the report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that in 2024, the latest year with complete data, 39,254 people died in traffic crashes in the U.S. This figure marks the first time since 2020 that the number of

fatal traffic crashes was below 40,000.

Here's where Memphis and other Tennessee cities ranked on the list.

Does Tennessee have good drivers?

While Tennessee is not the worst state for drivers, it's certainly not the best. Of the six Volunteer State cities included in the ranking, four improved in their rankings between 2025 and 2026.

• Memphis was ranked as the second-worst city for drivers, a break from the city's three-year stint at No. 1. It had 14.3 crashes related to bad driving, 30.6 total fatalities, 2.4 fatalities involving DUI, 7.0 fatalities involving speeding and 8.5 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people. The only category to worsen from 2025 to 2026 was the number of fatalities involving DUIs.
• Knoxville ranked No. 6, down from No. 2 in 2025. The city had 10.5 crashes related to bad driving, 27.1 total fatalities, 3.0 fatalities involving DUI, 7.5 fatalities involving speeding and 4.5 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people.
• Nashville ranked 40th, a steep jump from No. 55 in 2025. It had 6.2 crashes related to bad driving, 14.0 total fatalities, 2.1 fatalities involving DUI, 4.1 fatalities involving speeding and 3.5 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people.
• Clarksville ranked 77th, a significant drop from No. 29 in 2025. It had 5.4 crashes related to bad driving, 10.8 total fatalities, 0.5 fatalities involving DUI, 4.8 fatalities involving speeding and 2.7 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people.
• Murfreesboro increased in its ranking from No. 191 in 2025 to No. 119 in 2026. It had 7.1 crashes related to bad driving, 11.8 total fatalities, 1.2 fatalities involving DUI, 1.2 fatalities involving speeding and 1.2 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people.
• Chattanooga was the safest city for driving in Tennessee. The city dropped its ranking from No. 16 in 2025 to No. 154 in 2026. It had 4.2 crashes related to bad driving, 9.4 total fatalities, 1.0 fatalities involving DUI, 2.1 fatalities involving speeding and 1.6 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people.

Top 10 cities with the worst drivers in 2026

After three straight years of being the most dangerous city for driving, Memphis put a lot of work into improving and ranked as the second most dangerous city for drivers in 2026, breaking the streak. Now, Waterbury, Connecticut, has surpassed Memphis to become the city with the worst drivers in the U.S.

1. Waterbury, Connecticut
2. Memphis, Tennessee
3. Baton Rouge Louisiana
4. North Charleston, South Carolina
5. Odessa, Texas
6. Knoxville, Tennessee
7. Rialto, California
8. Jurupa Valley, California
9. Kansas City, Missouri
10. Hesperia, California

Top 10 cities with the best drivers in 2026

Salinas, California, was the city with the best drivers in 2026. The city had zero crashes related to bad driving, fatalities involving DUI, fatalities involving speeding, or fatalities involving a positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people. The total fatalities per 100,000 people was 0.6.

1. Salinas, California
2. Olathe, Kansas
3. Coral Springs, Florida
4. Lowell, Massachusetts
5. New York City, New York
6. Carmel, Indiana
7. Oxnard, California
8. Elgin, Illinois
9. San Mateo, California
10. Meridian, Idaho

Methodology

To determine the cities with the worst drivers, the ConsumerAffairs Research Team analyzed the most recently available crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

The study included only cities with populations of 100,000 or greater. A total of 338 cities met this threshold in 2026. Because eligibility is based on population, the list of qualifying cities can change slightly from year to year as populations grow or decline.

Here are the five crash factors cities are evaluated on:

• Traffic fatalities per 100,000 residents
• Fatal crashes related to bad driving per 100,000 residents
• Traffic fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content (BAC) readings per 100,000 residents
• Traffic fatalities involving driving under the influence (DUI) per 100,000 residents
• Traffic fatalities involving speeding per 100,000 residents

Each city was assigned a score between zero and 20 for each factor, with the city that recorded the highest rate receiving 20 points. All other cities received proportional scores based on their performance. The study then summed the scores from the five factors to determine an overall crash score, which could range from zero to 100.

Jordan Green covers trending news for The Commercial Appeal and Tennessee. She can be reached at [e-mail].

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis no longer has the worst drivers in America. See which city replaced it