It’s no secret that Americans love to drive but have you ever wondered which states do the most highway driving?

At UponArriving, we were curious as to which states hit the highway the most and so we did a survey of the available data and the results were pretty interesting.

We were able to break down the states that do the most and least driving and also arrive at a figure of what the average American drives per year. Check out the data below!

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The methodology

For our data, we relied on the statistics from the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration and the US Census.

Specifically, the Federal Highway Administration figures are based on the most recently publicized traffic data for 2018 regarding annual vehicle driving miles (AVM) on federal aided and non-federal aided highways and the US Census data is based on population estimates for 2018.    

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The top five states that do the most driving overall

The five states that do the most highway driving are California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and New York. 

Rank	State	Total Miles Driven	Population	Miles Driven Per Person
41	California	348,795,713,450	39,557,045	8,817.54
34	Texas	282,037,265,100	28,701,845	9,826.45
27	Florida	221,815,740,650	21,299,325	10,414.21
7	Georgia	131,455,532,780	10,519,475	12,496.40
50	New York	123,510,398,630	19,542,209	6,320.19

But these states have some of the largest populations so a much more accurate indicator of which state does the most driving is to break down the number of miles driven per person.

So using 2018 data provided by the US census, we broke down how many estimated miles are driven per person for each state and the top five results were very different.

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The five states that do the most driving per person

The five states that do the most highway driving per person are Wyoming, Alabama, Mississippi, New Mexico, and North Dakota. 

Rank	State	Total Miles Driven	Population	Miles Driven Per Person
1	Wyoming	10,438,442,610	577,737	18,067.81
2	Alabama	71,167,206,750	4,887,871	14,559.96
3	Mississippi	40,730,439,490	2,986,530	13,638.05
4	New Mexico	27,288,306,980	2,095,428	13,022.78
5	North Dakota	9,855,663,670	760,077	12,966.66

It’s no surprise that these are some of the most rural states in the country.

The five states that do the least driving per person

You might think that the states with the least amount of miles driven per person would all be highly concentrated areas but that is also not necessarily the case. For example, Alaska made the cut for the bottom five in total miles driven per person (weather and geography is certainly a major factor).

But to no surprise other states with highly densely populated cities like New York made the bottom five as well.

Rank	State	Total Miles Driven	Population	Miles Driven Per Person
51	District of Columbia	3,690,677,980	702,455	5,253.97
50	New York	123,510,398,630	19,542,209	6,320.19
49	Alaska	5,487,319,990	737,438	7,441.06
48	Rhode Island	8,008,582,200	1,057,315	7,574.45
47	Hawaii	10,886,767,750	1,420,491	7,664.09

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All 50 states broken down

Highway miles driven per person

The table below breaks down all 50 states (plus the District of Columbia) and ranks them according to how many highway miles are driven per person.

This data reveals that the average American drives a total number of 10,467.55 miles per year on highways.

Rank	State	Total Miles Driven	Population	Miles Driven Per Person
1	Wyoming	10,438,442,610	577,737	18,067.81
2	Alabama	71,167,206,750	4,887,871	14,559.96
3	Mississippi	40,730,439,490	2,986,530	13,638.05
4	New Mexico	27,288,306,980	2,095,428	13,022.78
5	North Dakota	9,855,663,670	760,077	12,966.66
6	Missouri	76,594,999,290	6,126,452	12,502.34
7	Georgia	131,455,532,780	10,519,475	12,496.40
8	Indiana	81,528,811,800	6,691,878	12,183.25
9	Arkansas	36,675,309,050	3,013,825	12,169.02
10	Tennessee	81,321,490,970	6,770,010	12,012.02
11	Montana	12,699,636,000	1,062,305	11,954.79
12	Vermont	7,346,350,180	626,299	11,729.78
13	North Carolina	121,127,248,630	10,383,620	11,665.22
14	Oklahoma	45,433,012,820	3,943,079	11,522.22
15	Wisconsin	65,885,434,950	5,813,568	11,333.05
16	South Carolina	56,800,682,760	5,084,127	11,172.16
17	Kentucky	49,543,606,250	4,468,402	11,087.54
18	Kansas	32,190,412,970	2,911,505	11,056.28
19	Maine	14,783,554,890	1,338,404	11,045.66
20	South Dakota	9,719,406,140	882,235	11,016.80
21	Nebraska	20,974,735,100	1,929,268	10,871.86
22	Minnesota	60,438,314,090	5,611,179	10,771.05
23	West Virginia	19,447,323,210	1,805,832	10,769.18
24	Louisiana	50,045,427,460	4,659,978	10,739.41
25	Iowa	33,282,400,050	3,156,145	10,545.27
26	Delaware	10,179,383,810	967,171	10,524.91
27	Florida	221,815,740,650	21,299,325	10,414.21
28	Michigan	102,397,557,490	9,995,915	10,243.94
29	New Hampshire	13,776,473,060	1,356,458	10,156.21
30	Utah	32,069,287,910	3,161,105	10,144.96
31	Idaho	17,709,145,780	1,754,208	10,095.24
32	Virginia	85,336,102,060	8,517,685	10,018.70
33	Maryland	59,775,435,470	6,042,718	9,892.14
34	Texas	282,037,265,100	28,701,845	9,826.45
35	Ohio	114,474,440,640	11,689,442	9,792.98
36	Massachusetts	66,771,980,720	6,902,149	9,674.09
37	Colorado	53,953,607,510	5,695,564	9,472.92
38	Nevada	28,319,012,180	3,034,392	9,332.68
39	Arizona	66,144,511,220	7,171,646	9,223.06
40	Connecticut	31,595,705,330	3,572,665	8,843.74
41	California	348,795,713,450	39,557,045	8,817.54
42	Oregon	36,848,416,940	4,190,713	8,792.88
43	New Jersey	77,538,911,170	8,908,520	8,703.90
44	Illinois	107,954,253,920	12,741,080	8,472.93
45	Washington	62,366,656,140	7,535,591	8,276.28
46	Pennsylvania	102,109,446,780	12,807,060	7,972.90
47	Hawaii	10,886,767,750	1,420,491	7,664.09
48	Rhode Island	8,008,582,200	1,057,315	7,574.45
49	Alaska	5,487,319,990	737,438	7,441.06
50	New York	123,510,398,630	19,542,209	6,320.19
51	District of Columbia	3,690,677,980	702,455	5,253.97

Highway miles driven total

Here’s the full breakdown of how many total miles are driven per state. The average state has 63,535,814,564 miles driven per year.

Rank	State	Total Miles Driven	Population	Miles Driven Per Person
1	California	348,795,713,450	39,557,045	8,817.54
2	Texas	282,037,265,100	28,701,845	9,826.45
3	Florida	221,815,740,650	21,299,325	10,414.21
4	Georgia	131,455,532,780	10,519,475	12,496.40
5	New York	123,510,398,630	19,542,209	6,320.19
6	North Carolina	121,127,248,630	10,383,620	11,665.22
7	Ohio	114,474,440,640	11,689,442	9,792.98
8	Illinois	107,954,253,920	12,741,080	8,472.93
9	Michigan	102,397,557,490	9,995,915	10,243.94
10	Pennsylvania	102,109,446,780	12,807,060	7,972.90
11	Virginia	85,336,102,060	8,517,685	10,018.70
12	Indiana	81,528,811,800	6,691,878	12,183.25
13	Tennessee	81,321,490,970	6,770,010	12,012.02
14	New Jersey	77,538,911,170	8,908,520	8,703.90
15	Missouri	76,594,999,290	6,126,452	12,502.34
16	Alabama	71,167,206,750	4,887,871	14,559.96
17	Massachusetts	66,771,980,720	6,902,149	9,674.09
18	Arizona	66,144,511,220	7,171,646	9,223.06
19	Wisconsin	65,885,434,950	5,813,568	11,333.05
20	Washington	62,366,656,140	7,535,591	8,276.28
21	Minnesota	60,438,314,090	5,611,179	10,771.05
22	Maryland	59,775,435,470	6,042,718	9,892.14
23	South Carolina	56,800,682,760	5,084,127	11,172.16
24	Colorado	53,953,607,510	5,695,564	9,472.92
25	Louisiana	50,045,427,460	4,659,978	10,739.41
26	Kentucky	49,543,606,250	4,468,402	11,087.54
27	Oklahoma	45,433,012,820	3,943,079	11,522.22
28	Mississippi	40,730,439,490	2,986,530	13,638.05
29	Oregon	36,848,416,940	4,190,713	8,792.88
30	Arkansas	36,675,309,050	3,013,825	12,169.02
31	Iowa	33,282,400,050	3,156,145	10,545.27
32	Kansas	32,190,412,970	2,911,505	11,056.28
33	Utah	32,069,287,910	3,161,105	10,144.96
34	Connecticut	31,595,705,330	3,572,665	8,843.74
35	Nevada	28,319,012,180	3,034,392	9,332.68
36	New Mexico	27,288,306,980	2,095,428	13,022.78
37	Nebraska	20,974,735,100	1,929,268	10,871.86
38	West Virginia	19,447,323,210	1,805,832	10,769.18
39	Idaho	17,709,145,780	1,754,208	10,095.24
40	Maine	14,783,554,890	1,338,404	11,045.66
41	New Hampshire	13,776,473,060	1,356,458	10,156.21
42	Montana	12,699,636,000	1,062,305	11,954.79
43	Hawaii	10,886,767,750	1,420,491	7,664.09
44	Wyoming	10,438,442,610	577,737	18,067.81
45	Delaware	10,179,383,810	967,171	10,524.91
46	North Dakota	9,855,663,670	760,077	12,966.66
47	South Dakota	9,719,406,140	882,235	11,016.80
48	Rhode Island	8,008,582,200	1,057,315	7,574.45
49	Vermont	7,346,350,180	626,299	11,729.78
50	Alaska	5,487,319,990	737,438	7,441.06
51	District of Columbia	3,690,677,980	702,455	5,253.97