How Many People Own Cars in the US? 2024 Census and FHWA Data
About 91.5% of US households had at least one vehicle in 2024, and that household figure is the closest official answer to how many people own cars. The Census Bureau counts 121.4 million of 132.7 million households with a vehicle available, which leaves 11.3 million households (8.5%) without one. Per person, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) counted 297.5 million registered motor vehicles for about 339 million residents, roughly 878 vehicles per 1,000 people, and 239.8 million licensed drivers, about 707 per 1,000 residents.
The published numbers count households, registrations or licensed drivers rather than individual car owners, and each one answers a slightly different question. This guide lays the measures side by side, says exactly what each one counts, and shows where they disagree. All figures are for 2024, the latest full year in both the Census American Community Survey (ACS) and FHWA Highway Statistics, so newer releases will replace them.
How Many Americans Own a Car in 2026?
The newest complete data are for 2024, not 2026. The two main sources are the Census Bureau’s 2024 ACS 1-year estimates (table B25044, tenure by vehicles available) and FHWA’s Highway Statistics 2024 (tables MV-1, VM-1 and DL-1C). The product pick below is for the owner side of the numbers: the paperwork every registered vehicle comes with.
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Here is every ownership measure in one place, with its definition.
| Measure (2024) | Figure | What it counts | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households with at least 1 vehicle | 121.4 million (91.5%) | Occupied housing units with 1 or more cars, vans or pickups available | Census ACS B25044 |
| Households with no vehicle | 11.3 million (8.5%) | Occupied housing units reporting none | Census ACS B25044 |
| Vehicles per household | 1.83 | Vehicles available divided by 132.7 million households | Census ACS B25046 and B25044 |
| Registered motor vehicles | 297.5 million | Cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles, private, commercial and public | FHWA MV-1 |
| Registered light-duty vehicles | 271.1 million | Passenger cars, light trucks, vans and SUVs | FHWA VM-1 |
| Licensed drivers | 239.8 million | Licence holders, including restricted and graduated licences | FHWA DL-1C |
| Registered vehicles per 1,000 residents | 878 (all) and 800 (light-duty) | Registrations divided by 339.1 million residents | FHWA MV-1, VM-1, DL-1C |
Households count once whether they hold one adult or five, so 91.5% is not the share of people who own a car. The nearest person-based number is licensing: 707 licensed drivers per 1,000 residents, or 872 per 1,000 residents aged 16 and over, according to FHWA table DL-1C. That is a count of licence holders, not of car owners, and it cannot be turned into a percentage of owners.
Sources: Census ACS 2024 table B25044 and FHWA Table MV-1, Highway Statistics 2024; vehicles-available definition from the Census 2024 ACS Subject Definitions.
Average Vehicles Per Household: Then vs. Now
The ACS asks each household how many passenger cars, vans and pickup trucks of one-ton capacity or less are kept at home and available for household members. Rented, leased and company vehicles count if they are kept at home and used for non-business purposes; motorcycles, recreational vehicles, immobile vehicles and vehicles used only for business do not. Here is the 2024 split.
| Vehicles available | Households (2024) | Share of households |
|---|---|---|
| None | 11,310,673 | 8.5% |
| 1 | 44,094,691 | 33.2% |
| 2 | 48,156,355 | 36.3% |
| 3 | 19,125,439 | 14.4% |
| 4 | 6,838,690 | 5.2% |
| 5 or more | 3,211,298 | 2.4% |
| Total households | 132,737,146 | 100% |
Two-vehicle households are the largest group at 36.3%, ahead of one-vehicle households at 33.2%. Together, 77.3 million households (58.3%) have two or more vehicles, and 29.2 million (22.0%) have three or more. The aggregate count of vehicles available is 242,292,824, which works out to 1.83 vehicles per household.
Ten years of ACS data
The same table for earlier years shows slower change than most articles suggest.
| ACS 1-year | Households | No vehicle | Share with no vehicle |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 117,259,427 | 10,674,576 | 9.1% |
| 2023 | 131,332,360 | 11,080,154 | 8.4% |
| 2024 | 132,737,146 | 11,310,673 | 8.5% |
The no-vehicle share did not fall every year: it was 9.1% in 2014, 8.4% in 2023 and 8.5% in 2024. Because these are survey estimates with published margins of error, a tenth of a point between two single years is not a trend. The bigger shift is volume. Households grew 13.2% from 2014 to 2024 (117.3 million to 132.7 million) while vehicles available grew 17.2% (206.7 million to 242.3 million), lifting the average from 1.76 to 1.83 per household.
For the long history behind these figures, including how ownership spread in the first half of the twentieth century, see when cars became common in the US and how many cars were in the US from 1900 to 2023.
Owners vs. Renters: Who Is Most Likely to Have No Car?
B25044 splits households by tenure, and that split is where the biggest gap in the table sits.
| Tenure (2024) | Households | No vehicle | Share with none | Two or more vehicles | Vehicles per household |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner-occupied | 86,635,506 | 2,879,504 | 3.3% | 70.5% | 2.11 |
| Renter-occupied | 46,101,640 | 8,431,169 | 18.3% | 35.2% | 1.30 |
Renters are 34.7% of households but 74.5% of the households with no vehicle (8,431,169 of 11,310,673). Nearly one renter household in five reports no vehicle, compared with about one owner household in thirty. Owner households average 2.11 vehicles against 1.30 for renters. The table does not say why: housing type, location and income all differ between the two groups, and the ACS vehicle question does not capture them. Any claim that attributes the gap to one cause goes beyond what this table shows.
Registered Vehicles, Drivers and Vehicles Per Person
Registration data answers a different question: how many vehicles exist on the books, regardless of who lives in them. FHWA’s Table MV-1 for 2024 lists 297,525,836 registered motor vehicles, published in January 2026 from state-supplied data.
| Type (FHWA MV-1, 2024) | Registered | Share of all |
|---|---|---|
| Automobiles | 97,413,321 | 32.7% |
| Trucks | 189,754,931 | 63.8% |
| Motorcycles | 9,261,249 | 3.1% |
| Buses | 1,096,335 | 0.4% |
| All motor vehicles | 297,525,836 | 100% |
Of the total, 292,784,909 are private and commercial registrations and 4,740,927 are publicly owned. The “automobiles” line is only about a third of the total, which is why the answer to “how many cars” depends on the definition. FHWA’s VM-1 table groups passenger cars, light trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles as light-duty vehicles and counts 271,085,742 of them (205,550,881 with a wheelbase of 121 inches or less and 65,534,861 above that). For the vehicle-count angle see how many cars are in the US.
Dividing registrations by people and drivers gives three more ratios:
- Per resident: 297.5 million registered motor vehicles divided by 339,058,370 residents is about 878 per 1,000 people (800 per 1,000 for light-duty vehicles).
- Per licensed driver: 297.5 million divided by 239.8 million drivers is 1.24 registered vehicles per driver (1.13 for light-duty vehicles).
- Drivers per vehicle: FHWA itself lists a ratio of 0.82 licensed drivers per private and commercial registered vehicle.
Licensed drivers were 239,824,944 in 2024, per FHWA table DL-1C, which includes restricted licences and graduated driver licences. Because New York’s 2024 figures come from actual state-reported registrations rather than the estimates FHWA used for 2022 and 2023, a year-over-year jump in the national total may not reflect real growth. Treat 2024 as a fresh baseline. Source for licensing: FHWA Table DL-1C, Highway Statistics 2024.
Which States Register the Most Vehicles?
Registration totals follow population. These five states had the most registered motor vehicles in 2024.
| State (FHWA MV-1, 2024) | Registered motor vehicles | Per 1,000 residents |
|---|---|---|
| California | 30,940,652 | 787 |
| Texas | 23,606,401 | 757 |
| New York | 20,991,098 | 1,058 |
| Florida | 19,696,080 | 845 |
| Ohio | 11,366,695 | 957 |
The per-resident column is registrations divided by the resident population in FHWA’s DL-1C table. It is not a household ownership rate, and it can exceed 1,000 per 1,000 residents: Montana’s 2,473,269 registrations against 1,133,895 residents works out to about 2,181 per 1,000. Registration counts include commercial vehicles and depend on how each state registers vehicles, and FHWA notes that its published data reflects state-supplied figures without FHWA estimation, with some states not reporting government registrations. Use the state ratios to compare registrations, not to rank how many residents own a car.
Why Household and Registration Counts Differ
The ACS counts 242.3 million vehicles available to households, while FHWA counts 271.1 million registered light-duty vehicles. The gap is 28.8 million, or 11.9% above the ACS figure. The two counts are built differently, so they should not match exactly:
| Census ACS (B25046) | FHWA (VM-1 light-duty) | |
|---|---|---|
| Method | Household survey answers | State registration records compiled by FHWA |
| Business-only vehicles | Excluded | Included if registered |
| Government and police vehicles | Counted only if kept at home and used for non-business purposes | Counted if registered; public registrations are part of MV-1 |
| Motorcycles | Excluded | Separate line in MV-1 |
| 2024 total | 242,292,824 | 271,085,742 |
Neither source breaks the 28.8 million gap into causes, so it is best read as a reminder that “cars owned by households” and “vehicles registered” are different quantities. For a question about households, use the ACS. For a question about vehicles on the road, use FHWA.
What This Guide Does Not Cover
This guide does not cover ownership costs, electric-vehicle counts, or household vehicle access broken out by state, age or income. Those need their own tables and are better answered from the original Census and FHWA releases.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Percentage of the US Owns a Car?
No official table gives a percentage of individual people who own a car. The closest household measure is the Census ACS 2024 figure: 91.5% of US households (121.4 million of 132.7 million) had at least one vehicle available. Per person, FHWA lists about 707 licensed drivers per 1,000 residents.
What Percent of the US Doesn’t Own a Car?
In 2024, 8.5% of US households (11.3 million) reported no vehicle available. The share was 3.3% for owner-occupied households and 18.3% for renter-occupied households.
How Many Vehicles Does the Average US Household Have?
About 1.83 in 2024 (242,292,824 vehicles available across 132,737,146 households), up from about 1.76 in 2014. Two-vehicle households are the largest group at 36.3%.
How Many Registered Vehicles Are There in the US?
FHWA Table MV-1 lists 297,525,836 registered motor vehicles for 2024, including 97,413,321 automobiles, 189,754,931 trucks, 9,261,249 motorcycles and 1,096,335 buses. FHWA’s VM-1 table counts 271,085,742 light-duty vehicles.
How Many Americans Have a Driver’s License?
FHWA Table DL-1C counts 239,824,944 licensed drivers in 2024, about 707 per 1,000 residents and 872 per 1,000 residents aged 16 and over.
Which State Has the Most Registered Vehicles?
California, with 30,940,652 registered motor vehicles in 2024, followed by Texas (23,606,401), New York (20,991,098) and Florida (19,696,080), per FHWA Table MV-1.
Conclusion
Car ownership in the US is close to universal at the household level: 91.5% of households had a vehicle in 2024, 58.3% had two or more, and the average was 1.83. The no-vehicle group is concentrated among renters, who are 18.3% car-free against 3.3% of owners. Per person, FHWA’s counts of 878 registered vehicles and 707 licensed drivers per 1,000 residents are the best published stand-ins, and they measure registrations and licences, not owners.
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