How Many Cars Are in the U.S.? Car Ownership Statistics 2024

Updated June 20, 2024

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KEY POINTS

Rising car ownership: 91.7% of U.S. households had at least one vehicle in 2022, up from 90.9% in 2015.
Truck dominance: Trucks are the most popular vehicle type, making up well over half of the country's 283.4 million registered vehicles.
State variations: Car ownership rates vary by state, with Idaho at 96.2% of households and Washington, D.C. at 65.7%.

Key findings are powered by ChatGPT and based solely off the content from this article. They are reviewed by Jack Caporal, our research director. The author and editors take ultimate responsibility for the content.

Car ownership rates are ticking upwards in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 91.7% of U.S. households had at least one vehicle available in 2022, compared to 90.9% in 2015.

The United States consistently ranks near the top in terms of car ownership, and in several states, at least 95% of households have access to a vehicle. There are, however, a few areas with more robust public transportation systems that buck the norm, including Washington, D.C., New York, and New Jersey.

Read on to find out where your state ranked, the total number of vehicles in the country, and more of the latest car ownership statistics.

National car ownership statistics

There were a total of 283,400,986 registered vehicles in the United States in 2022, according to the Federal Highway Administration. That's a 7.5% increase from 2015, when there were 263,610,219.

It might surprise you to learn that trucks, and not automobiles, were the most popular type of vehicle. Even though car insurance quotes tend to be higher for trucks, they make up well over half the vehicles in the country.

Automobiles registered	Buses registered	Trucks registered	Motorcycles registered	Total vehicles registered
99,946,870	954,119	172,932,334	9,567,664	283,400,986

Data source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (2024). Vehicles registered in 2022.

Most households (91.7%) had at least one vehicle available in 2022. That's 0.8% more than in 2015. Interestingly enough, the biggest change in those five years was an increase in the households with three or more vehicles.

Number of vehicles	2022	2020	2015
No vehicles available	8.3%	8.5%	9.1%
1 vehicle available	33.2%	32.5%	33.7%
2 vehicles available	36.9%	37.1%	37.4%
3 or more vehicles available	21.6%	22.0%	19.8%
Any vehicle	91.7%	91.6%	90.9%

Data source: U.S. Census Bureau (2024).

Car ownership rates by state

Car ownership rates vary significantly by area. In Idaho, 96.2% of households have access to at least one vehicle, compared to just 65.7% in Washington, D.C. and 70.9% in New York.

There's also a huge difference in the average number of vehicles per household. Delaware has an average of 1.2 vehicles per household, while in Montana, there's a whopping 5.1 vehicles per household. Ideally those multi-car households are bundling coverages, so they can get discounts on car insurance.

State	Share of households with at least one vehicle	Vehicles per household
Alabama	94.8%	2.9
Alaska	90.9%	2.7
Arizona	94.9%	2.3
Arkansas	93.5%	3.1
California	93.1%	2.5
Colorado	95.0%	2.3
Connecticut	91.0%	2.1
Delaware	94.1%	1.2
District of Columbia	65.7%	1.8
Florida	94.0%	2.4
Georgia	94.3%	2.4
Hawaii	91.9%	2.7
Idaho	96.2%	2.9
Illinois	88.8%	2.3
Indiana	93.6%	2.5
Iowa	94.4%	3.0
Kansas	94.6%	2.3
Kentucky	93.6%	2.5
Louisiana	91.8%	2.8
Maine	93.2%	2.3
Maryland	91.3%	2.3
Massachusetts	88.2%	2.1
Michigan	93.1%	2.5
Minnesota	93.2%	2.6
Mississippi	94.1%	2.1
Missouri	93.2%	2.3
Montana	95.8%	5.1
Nebraska	94.8%	2.6
Nevada	93.0%	2.4
New Hampshire	95.7%	2.7
New Jersey	89.1%	1.9
New Mexico	94.8%	2.3
New York	70.9%	1.7
North Carolina	95.0%	2.2
North Dakota	94.7%	3.5
Ohio	92.8%	2.4
Oklahoma	94.5%	2.3
Oregon	92.8%	2.6
Pennsylvania	89.5%	2.3
Puerto Rico	87.1%	#N/A
Rhode Island	90.2%	2.0
South Carolina	94.6%	2.6
South Dakota	95.0%	3.9
Tennessee	94.9%	2.5
Texas	94.6%	2.2
Utah	96.3%	2.6
Vermont	94.0%	2.4
Virginia	93.9%	2.4
Washington	93.2%	2.7
West Virginia	92.0%	2.4
Wisconsin	93.5%	2.4
Wyoming	95.9%	3.8
Total	91.7%	2.4

Data source: U.S. Census Bureau; U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (2024).

Vehicle numbers per state generally coincide with population numbers. The most populated states (California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania) also have the most registered vehicles. From 2015 to 2022, 40 states and Washington, D.C. saw their vehicle numbers increase, compared to 10 that saw them decrease.

State	Vehicles registered (2022)	Vehicles registered (2020)	Vehicles registered (2015)	Percent change 2015-2022
Alabama	5,464,382	5,320,340	5,400,419	1.2%
Alaska	679,125	792,826	815,122	(16.7%)
Arizona	6,090,179	6,053,781	5,630,647	8.2%
Arkansas	3,569,698	2,913,369	2,772,214	28.8%
California	31,119,113	30,398,249	29,424,012	5.8%
Colorado	5,116,858	5,350,708	5,005,172	2.2%
Connecticut	2,789,423	2,867,554	2,841,764	(1.8%)
Delaware	467,268	1,006,135	964,316	(51.5%)
District of Columbia	380,801	356,537	322,929	17.9%
Florida	19,663,462	18,464,506	16,105,008	22.1%
Georgia	9,153,627	8,829,596	8,137,621	12.5%
Hawaii	1,243,333	1,256,140	1,242,319	0.1%
Idaho	2,031,332	1,917,677	1,854,019	9.6%
Illinois	10,334,435	10,587,725	10,595,254	(2.5%)
Indiana	6,256,479	6,199,901	6,045,114	3.5%
Iowa	3,779,422	3,787,224	3,636,898	3.9%
Kansas	2,588,185	2,603,543	2,634,856	(1.8%)
Kentucky	4,291,816	4,459,685	4,151,982	3.4%
Louisiana	4,593,542	3,861,204	3,901,432	17.7%
Maine	1,294,286	1,121,106	1,104,001	17.2%
Maryland	4,919,054	4,211,377	4,135,158	19.0%
Massachusetts	5,184,450	5,036,686	5,069,601	2.3%
Michigan	9,403,708	8,453,239	8,294,108	13.4%
Minnesota	5,673,333	5,690,749	5,281,269	7.4%
Mississippi	2,298,929	2,058,975	2,068,853	11.1%
Missouri	5,373,722	5,587,022	5,624,005	(4.5%)
Montana	2,249,485	1,952,553	1,645,227	36.7%
Nebraska	1,967,125	1,935,357	1,981,296	(0.7%)
Nevada	2,672,391	2,549,357	2,316,056	15.4%
New Hampshire	1,437,151	1,357,535	1,296,137	10.9%
New Jersey	5,999,667	6,006,247	5,938,585	1.0%
New Mexico	1,870,380	1,783,151	1,823,445	2.6%
New York	9,111,362	11,324,755	10,638,765	(14.4%)
North Carolina	8,995,906	8,739,280	7,928,973	13.5%
North Dakota	1,093,509	899,083	890,803	22.8%
Ohio	11,028,755	10,592,317	10,557,323	4.5%
Oklahoma	3,345,331	3,730,247	2,988,512	11.9%
Oregon	4,139,333	4,095,442	3,607,482	14.7%
Pennsylvania	10,868,829	10,690,187	10,598,694	2.5%
Rhode Island	806,142	866,625	875,097	(7.9%)
South Carolina	5,245,829	4,561,299	4,162,651	26.0%
South Dakota	1,364,513	1,294,282	1,082,289	26.1%
Tennessee	6,828,011	5,855,373	5,612,123	21.7%
Texas	23,291,638	22,419,490	21,864,841	6.5%
Utah	2,876,800	2,479,604	2,229,193	29.1%
Vermont	625,664	607,890	655,347	(4.5%)
Virginia	7,763,287	7,606,452	7,238,905	7.2%
Washington	7,835,063	7,257,401	6,725,467	16.5%
West Virginia	1,652,896	1,657,362	1,613,345	2.5%
Wisconsin	5,681,673	5,616,271	5,466,581	3.9%
Wyoming	890,285	861,028	814,989	9.2%
Total	283,400,986	275,924,442	263,610,219	7.5%

Data source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (2024).

Electric vehicle ownership rates by state

There were 3,299,502 registered electric vehicles in the United States by the fourth quarter of 2023.

California can take most of the credit for that, as it's home to roughly 1.2 million electric vehicles, 36% of the nationwide total. On the other end of the spectrum, North Dakota recorded the lowest total, with just 876 electric vehicles.

State	EV Registrations
Alabama	11,831
Alaska	2,538
Arizona	84,611
Arkansas	6,572
California	1,178,948
Colorado	82,563
Connecticut	29,587
Delaware	7,687
District of Columbia	7,492
Florida	231,518
Georgia	85,050
Hawaii	24,195
Idaho	7,982
Illinois	93,021
Indiana	23,987
Iowa	8,333
Kansas	10,401
Kentucky	10,750
Louisiana	7,529
Maine	6,829
Maryland	64,919
Massachusetts	68,842
Michigan	45,588
Minnesota	33,933
Mississippi	3,246
Missouri	24,665
Montana	4,230
Nebraska	6,304
Nevada	44,060
New Hampshire	9,247
New Jersey	125,317
New Mexico	9,557
New York	121,768
North Carolina	63,768
North Dakota	876
Ohio	46,128
Oklahoma	22,845
Oregon	60,196
Pennsylvania	64,631
Rhode Island	5,943
South Carolina	19,224
South Dakota	1,556
Tennessee	30,483
Texas	210,433
Utah	36,860
Vermont	7,312
Virginia	78,694
Washington	141,055
West Virginia	2,542
Wisconsin	22,776
Wyoming	1,080
Total	3,299,502

Data source: Department of Energy (2024).

Car ownership rates by city

Murrieta, California is the city with the highest car ownership rate in the United States, as 99.3% of its households own vehicles. Here's the full top 10:

City	Percentage of households that own vehicles
Murrieta, California	99.3%
League City, Texas	99.0%
Surprise, Arizona	98.7%
West Jordan, Utah	98.7%
Cary, North Carolina	98.6%
Pearland, Texas	98.6%
Highlands Ranch, Colorado	98.5%
Centennial, Colorado	98.3%
Gilbert, Arizona	98.3%
Elk Grove, California	98.2%

Data source: TitleMax (2020).

New York City has the lowest car ownership rate by far at 45.6%. Cities with low car ownership tend to have more public transportation options and high population densities. This makes a car more of a luxury than a necessity, especially considering the extra costs involved, such as car insurance and parking.

City	Percentage of households that own vehicles
New York, New York	45.6%
Newark, New Jersey	59.7%
Washington, D.C.	62.7%
Jersey City, New Jersey	62.9%
Cambridge, Massachusetts	63.2%
Boston, Massachusetts	66.2%
Paterson, New Jersey	67.0%
Hartford, Connecticut	67.4%
San Francisco, California	70.1%
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	70.5%

Data source: TitleMax (2020).

In case you're wondering why Washington, D.C.'s car ownership rate is different here than it was earlier, it's because this data is from TitleMax. The numbers earlier were from the Federal Highway Administration. It's normal to have some variations between data sources.

Car ownership in 2024 and beyond

Although car ownership rates and registered vehicle numbers rose from 2020 to 2022, they did so at a considerably slower rate than from 2018 to 2020. Only 1.2 million new vehicles were registered in 2022, compared to 6.3 million in 2021.

That's a reflection of car prices rising quickly in 2021 and 2022. The price of new vehicles grew faster than red-hot inflation for much of 2021 and 2022.

The recent slowdown in automobile purchases comes after a tough 2020 for the industry. From 2015 to 2019, dealers had five straight years with at least 17 million sales of new light-vehicles, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association. That trend was halted in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic and a semiconductor shortage slowed down vehicle production. New light-vehicle sales were just 14.43 million in 2020 and 14.97 million in 2021.

On a positive note, the electric vehicle market has been booming. EV registrations rose by 40% from 2021 to 2022 and another 21% the following year. While the industry is still heavily reliant on the state of California and Tesla, it's clear that more consumers are making the shift to electric vehicles.