National Household Travel Survey
Daily Travel Quick Facts
Daily Travel is a trip from one point to another on a single day.
How We Travel
- 87 percent of daily trips take place in personal vehicles
- 91 percent of people commuting to work use personal vehicles
How Many Trips We Take Every Day
- Americans take 1.1 billion trips a day — four for every person in the U.S
- U.S. daily travel averages 11 billion miles a day — almost 40 miles
per person per day
How Many Trips We Take in a Year
- Americans take 411 billion daily trips a year or about 1,500 trips per person
- U.S. daily travel totals about 4 trillion miles — 14,500 miles per person
Why We Travel
- 45 percent of daily trips are taken for shopping and errands
- 27 percent of daily trips are social and recreational, such as visiting a friend
- 15 percent of daily trips are taken for commuting
What We Drive
- There are 204 million personal vehicles available for regular use
- 57 percent are cars or station wagons
- 21 percent are vans or SUVs
- 19 percent are light trucks
When We Travel
- The most daily trips are made on Friday (16 percent)
- The fewest daily trips are made on Sunday (13 percent)
- More daily trips are taken between noon and 1 p.m. (7.4 percent) than between
8 a.m. - 9 a.m. (5.5 percent)
The Average Driver
- Spends 55 minutes a day behind the wheel
- Drives 29 miles a day
Men vs. Women
- Women drive less (21 to 38 miles per day)
- Men drive longer (67 to 44 minutes per day)
SOURCE: National Household Travel Survey, 2001-2002. For further details, see our Frequently Asked Questions.
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