Getting to work costs the average Atlanta resident $5,772 a year, landing that city at the top of Sperling's BestPlaces list of the nation's most expensive cities for driving. Rising gas prices have made daily commutes more expensive for most Americans, according to Sperling's, but urban sprawl was a big factor in hiking up the cost of commuting in the cities on the list. Most commuters in those cities, almost all of which are in the southeast, had to drive more than 60 miles a day to and from work. Along with the miles driven, Sperling's considered the cost of regular gasoline and the effect of rush-hour traffic in the 80 cities included in the study.

*Annual cost to commuters

SOURCE: Sperling's BestPlaces, “10 cities worst hit by rising gas prices,” 2006