How many of you drive/don’t drive?

[D-Dey65]

I drive about 50,000 miles a year.

I don't know if I do that, but numbers have to be in the 5-digit category.

[kphoger]

... numbers have to be in the 5-digit category.

That's true for most Americans.  The average is somewhere between 13,000 and 15,000 miles per year, depending on what study you're looking at.  Five digits either way.

[JayhawkCO]

Last year, I think I was only around 7,000. I work from home, so no commute, and I didn't have any long road trips that we took in my car (took the wife's).

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm trying to think of the last year I didn't drive more than 30,000 miles.  I'd speculate probably 2005 when I didn't really have much spending cash for road trips.

Supposedly I commute about 18,000 miles to work annually after deducting the six weeks I'm off for vacation or Federal holidays.  The least I ever commuted for work was about 3,000 miles in Orlando circa 2015.  I claimed about 65,000 work miles for reimbursement at work in 2011.

[D-Dey65]

... numbers have to be in the 5-digit category.

That's true for most Americans.  The average is somewhere between 13,000 and 15,000 miles per year, depending on what study you're looking at.  Five digits either way.

Well, despite not having the chance to get up to the New York Tri-State area since 2021, I still have my various excursions to other parts of Florida, as well as those across the border. So, I suppose if I'm not average, I must be slightly above average.

My old Camry currently has 290,6**K on the odometer. From what I've read, that's low for a Camry of this era, but a lot of people are still impressed by those numbers... or disturbed by them.

[Rothman]

Seems I drive 22,000 miles a year.  Drive less than I used to since I fly more nowadays, I think, along with walking to work over the past few years.

[Evillangbuildsmc]

UPDATE 4/29/25: Title has changed to make it easier to know who don't drive.

[jgb191]

Since we don't have a Subway system or Rapid Rail transit here in South Texas, I have no other alternative than to resort to driving around here. 

[Bruce]

Since we don't have a Subway system or Rapid Rail transit here in South Texas, I have no other alternative than to resort to driving around here. 

Buses and biking are alternatives. It's not as reliable as a rail system, but it can get the job done provided there's a competent government that will fund frequent service.

[Rothman]

Since we don't have a Subway system or Rapid Rail transit here in South Texas, I have no other alternative than to resort to driving around here. 

Buses and biking are alternatives. It's not as reliable as a rail system, but it can get the job done provided there's a competent government that will fund frequent service.

In South Texas?

[formulanone]

UPDATE 4/29/25: Title has changed to make it easier to know who don't drive.

Ummm...do you have anything to add to the discussion you've started?

[Max Rockatansky]

UPDATE 4/29/25: Title has changed to make it easier to know who don't drive.

Ummm...do you have anything to add to the discussion you've started?

Off forum someone asked a similar question on a Facebook road group and got accused of phishing.  It probably didn't help the poster didn't have a profile picture.  I kind of wonder if this is the same person.

[Rothman]

UPDATE 4/29/25: Title has changed to make it easier to know who don't drive.

Ummm...do you have anything to add to the discussion you've started?

Off forum someone asked a similar question on a Facebook road group and got accused of phishing.  It probably didn't help the poster didn't have a profile picture.  I kind of wonder if this is the same person.

Phishing for driving habits with little other personal information to go on would seem to be inefficient.

[formulanone]

UPDATE 4/29/25: Title has changed to make it easier to know who don't drive.

Ummm...do you have anything to add to the discussion you've started?

Off forum someone asked a similar question on a Facebook road group and got accused of phishing.  It probably didn't help the poster didn't have a profile picture.  I kind of wonder if this is the same person.

Phishing for driving habits with little other personal information to go on would seem to be inefficient.

Not sure that it qualify as phishing, but that's typically the kind of thing seen on social media to limit barriers towards openly posting spam.

This just more curious than harmful; seems the low post count is due to lurking rather than trolling.

[elsmere241]

My wife was doing a lot of the driving when we traveled together, except at night because of her vision.  (That means I wound up doing 2/3 of the driving on a lot of road trips.)  Now because of her coughing risk, I generally drive when we're together.  And the last few times we've rented a car she's had me do all the driving in it.

The thing is now, once the disease that's behind all the coughing attacks is confirmed, whether she'll be able to drive at all will be between her doctor and the DMV.  (Among other things, this means getting a second car for me is now out of the picture.)

[kphoger]

Since we don't have a Subway system or Rapid Rail transit here in South Texas, I have no other alternative than to resort to driving around here. 

Buses and biking are alternatives. It's not as reliable as a rail system, but it can get the job done provided there's a competent government that will fund frequent service.

Seriously.  Since when are trains and cars the only two forms of transportation available to people?  Having lived several years without a car, I can't imagine having restricted myself to trains only.  Good grief!

[Max Rockatansky]

UPDATE 4/29/25: Title has changed to make it easier to know who don't drive.

Ummm...do you have anything to add to the discussion you've started?

Off forum someone asked a similar question on a Facebook road group and got accused of phishing.  It probably didn't help the poster didn't have a profile picture.  I kind of wonder if this is the same person.

Phishing for driving habits with little other personal information to go on would seem to be inefficient.

I don't disagree.  I'm just getting some amusement at the reactions to the same question in different venues.  I "may have" been guilty of trying to intentionally set off the hornets nest off forum to see what would happen.

[Flint1979]

I drive about 50,000 miles a year.

I don't know if I do that, but numbers have to be in the 5-digit category.

I leave my town just about every day, some days I don't but most of the time I end up places instead of actually planning on being somewhere so it's rather easy to do. I would think the average person probably drives about 20,000 miles a year maybe I know I'm well above that.

[kphoger]

The average is somewhere between 13,000 and 15,000 miles per year, depending on what study you're looking at.

I would think the average person probably drives about 20,000 miles a year

nope

[Flint1979]

The average is somewhere between 13,000 and 15,000 miles per year, depending on what study you're looking at.

I would think the average person probably drives about 20,000 miles a year

nope

I would believe it depends on the state you are driving in.

[GaryV]

it depends on the state you are driving in

Then why not open it up to the whole world. How much does the average Nigerian drive? Costa Rican? Romanian? North Korean?

[JayhawkCO]

it depends on the state you are driving in

Then why not open it up to the whole world. How much does the average Nigerian drive? Costa Rican? Romanian? North Korean?

If you opened it up to the world, I bet the average drops below 1,000.

[kphoger]

The average is somewhere between 13,000 and 15,000 miles per year, depending on what study you're looking at.

I would think the average person probably drives about 20,000 miles a year

nope

I would believe it depends on the state you are driving in.

Of course it does.  Here is a link to the FHWA tables for 2019:
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2019/

I went ahead and did the calculations for you.

State	|Licensed Drivers	|Annual Vehicle-Miles (Millions)	|Miles per Driver
Wyoming	424115	10208	24069
Mississippi	2058036	41091	19966
New Mexico	1449711	27772	19157
Missouri	4274389	79168	18521
Georgia	7261266	133128	18334
Indiana	4589405	82719	18024
Minnesota	3391057	60731	17909
Alabama	4026151	71735	17817
Oklahoma	2522670	44648	17699
North Dakota	556064	9826	17671
Arkansas	2153929	37099	17224
West Virginia	1130389	19077	16876
Kentucky	3030329	49410	16305
Texas	17822760	288227	16172
North Carolina	7620001	122475	16073
Montana	811851	12892	15880
South Dakota	638428	9922	15541
Utah	2121099	32911	15516
Wisconsin	4296646	66348	15442
Tennessee	5422429	82892	15287
Louisiana	3435168	51360	14951
South Carolina	3877968	57939	14941
Nebraska	1430818	21242	14846
Kansas	2154260	31843	14781
Iowa	2274431	33537	14745
Florida	15560628	226514	14557
Virginia	5888196	85432	14509
Idaho	1252535	18058	14417
Michigan	7141494	102174	14307
Ohio	8032792	114694	14278
Maine	1046129	14871	14215
Nevada	2054421	28794	14016
Maryland	4463862	60216	13490
Massachusetts	4950056	64890	13109
Arizona	5369210	70281	13090
Vermont	564894	7346	13004
Colorado	4235384	54634	12899
Delaware	812529	10245	12609
Illinois	8546932	107525	12581
California	27213650	340836	12524
New Jersey	6377413	78205	12263
Oregon	2930701	35808	12218
Connecticut	2608061	31601	12117
Hawaii	943173	11024	11688
New Hampshire	1195211	13828	11570
Pennsylvania	8987676	102864	11445
Alaska	529281	5881	11111
Washington	5711136	62530	10949
New York	12194360	123986	10167
Rhode Island	761046	7581	9961
Dist. of Col.	535579	3756	7013
Total	228679719	3261772	14263

[Max Rockatansky]

Interesting that the state (California) is pushing Caltrans for VMT reductions with that low of an average driver mileage.  Yeah sure, the overall mileage in California is the highest in the country because of population and sheer number of drivers.  All the same overall mileage in California isn't that much higher than Texas.  Texas has a way larger state highway inventory than California does. 

Personally I always thought the system here in California was pretty lean for a state with such a large population.  Just seems odd to me coming from the Midwest originally.

[kphoger]

By the way, until today I didn't know how to make a table in BBCode.  If ever there was a time to learn the syntax, that post was it!