Forbes 2024: US Cars in Numbers

Americans still love cars and place great importance on owning a car. Perhaps this is the main conclusion of an automobile study recently conducted by Forbes. It also contains a lot of other information and figures that will be useful to those studying the US car market. Here is an overview of the study.

How many cars are there in the US?

• A total of 278,870,463 personal and commercial vehicles were registered to drivers in the United States in 2022.

• Trucks are the most popular vehicle type, with 170,239,357 private and commercial truck registrations in 2022, compared to 98,573,935 passenger car registrations.

• In 2022, 91.7% of households owned at least one vehicle. Only 8.3% of households did not own a vehicle.  

• Idaho and Wyoming have the highest car ownership rates nationwide, with 96.2% of households in both states reporting access to at least one vehicle in 2022.

• In 2022, only 64.3% of households in the District of Columbia owned at least one car — the lowest percentage in the country.

• Wyoming residents are most likely to own three or more vehicles (33.6%), followed by Idaho and Utah (32.7%).

• The Ford F-150 was the nation's top-selling used vehicle in 2023.

How many Americans own a car?

Car ownership in America is growing. In 2022, only 8.3% of households did not own a vehicle, which is 4.6% less than in 2018, when 8.7% of households did not own a vehicle.  

• In 2022, the majority of households (91.7%) owned at least one car, up from 91.3% in 2018.

• In 2022, 37% of households owned two cars, down 0.8% from 2018 (37.3%).

• In 2022, 22.1% of households owned three or more vehicles, up 5.2% from 2018 (21%).

Electric vehicle ownership

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs), hybrids and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) accounted for 16.7% of all new vehicles sold in 2023, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association.

• California has the highest EV ownership rate, with electric cars making up 2.5% of total registered vehicles in the state as of 2022.

• Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming have the lowest rates of electric vehicle ownership, with EVs accounting for just 0.1% of total vehicles registered in all five states as of 2022.  

Five cities with the most vehicles per household

In 2022, Idaho Falls, Idaho had the highest percentage of households with three or more vehicles — 38.8%. The city is followed by:

• Logan, Utah (38.2% of households).

• Provo-Orem, Utah (36.7% of households).

• Bismarck, North Dakota (36.4% of households).

• Greeley, Colorado (36.3% of households).

Most Popular Used Cars in the US

The Ford F-150 is the most popular used vehicle in the country based on 2023 sales. More than three percent of all sales of used vehicles between one and five years old were of the F-150. Other cars that were among the most popular in 2023 include:

• Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (2.6% of sales).

• Chevrolet Equinox (2.1% of sales).

• RAM 1500 (2.1% of sales).

• Тоyota Camry (1.8% of sales).

The most popular car colors

More than a quarter (26.2%) of cars in the US are white, making it the most popular color in the country, followed by:

• Black (21.8%).

• Gray (19.2%).

• Silver (11.7%)

• Blue (9.7%)

White, black, gray and silver cars make up 78.9% of all American vehicles.

How much does it cost to own a car?

According to AAA, in 2023, owning/operating a new car in the United States cost $12,182 per year, or $1,015 per month. This is a 13.6% increase from 2022, when the average annual cost was $10,728 per year or $894 per month. AAA attributes this to the increasing cost of new cars.

Here are some additional new car ownership statistics:

• In 2023, the average sales price for a new car was $47,331, and the average sales price for a used car was $29,586.

• Over the past five years, new cars cost an average of $41,531 and used cars cost an average of $26,042.

• From 2019 to 2023, new cars rose in price by 30%, and used cars by 40.3%.

The most expensive states for car repairs

Connecticut is the most expensive auto repair state ($418.37 average) for check engine car repairs, followed by:

• Colorado ($417.14).

• California ($415.66).

• Georgia ($407.71).

• North Carolina ($402.61).

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Sources: Forbes, U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Census Bureau 5-Year American Community Survey, U.S. Department of Energy, iSeeCars, AAA, National Automobile Dealers Association.