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.