Chart: America's driving capitals

[Steely Dan]

No real surprises here. The sprawl-tropolises of the southeast drive the most, and the big urban legacy cities drive the least.

I'm proud to be a zero for Chicago's figures.



Average daily weekday private vehicle miles traveled in fall 2023
Per adult; among the 50 largest U.S. metro areas

Most miles traveled
1 Raleigh, N.C. - 38.1
2 Birmingham, Ala. - 36.1
3 Jacksonville, Fla. - 36.0
4 Nashville, Tenn. - 35.5
5 Charlotte, N.C. - 35.5

top 50 MSA average.- 30.1 miles

Fewest miles traveled
46 Boston - 22.8
47 Chicago - 21.8
48 San Francisco - 21.7
49 Philadelphia - 21.1
50 New York - 14.4

Source: https://www.axios.com/2024/06/13/cha...iving-capitals

[MolsonExport]

^probably nearly a 1:1 correspondence with "least lively downtowns"

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

^probably nearly a 1:1 correspondence with "least lively downtowns"

exactly -- and here are some other non news sites to kill a little time --

https://kristenmanieri.com/2020/09/0...ure-buffering/

[hipster duck]

If I drove 38 miles a day in Toronto, I'd be spending about 2-3 hours in my car.

But even in a city like Raleigh which has pretty free-flowing traffic, I imagine that driving 38 miles in a day means you're spending way more than 1 hour behind the wheel, given that you're not just driving at the posted speed limit but slowing down for red lights, stop signs, driving around parking lots, etc.

[DCReid]

But when I was living in the DC area, I drove 0 miles during the week. It still took me at least an hour to get to work each day if I got up at 5 to get the bus and rail by 6. If I got up at 6 to get the bus by 7, it would take 90 minutes.

[bdurk]

proud to put up a big fat ZERO for philadelphia B)

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by bdurk

proud to put up a big fat ZERO for philadelphia B)

+1

I've had the same car for 13 years. I've put about 30,000 miles on it in that time.

[PhilliesPhan]

Originally Posted by bdurk

proud to put up a big fat ZERO for philadelphia B)

Same! This is one list where I'm proud to see Philly rank 2nd to last. My morning commute is a 20 minute walk to my closest Regional Rail station, a 20 minute ride to Center City, and a 3-5 minute walk from the station to my desk. I haven't felt the need to own a car while living in the city, as SEPTA (and Amtrak/NJ Transit) take me everywhere I need to go.

My wife (then girlfriend) moved to the city in summer 2018 and I met her about six months thereafter. In the 5.5 years we've been together, she's only put about 20,000 miles on her car.

[cabasse]

https://www.replicahq.com/2023-vmt-r...ion-learn-more

here's where being a nerd comes in handy:

var table = [];
temp0.childNodes.forEach(n => {table.push({"city": n.childNodes[0].__data__.label, "value": n.childNodes[0].__data__.value})});
console.table(table);

(index) city value
0 Raleigh, NC 38.10697138
1 Birmingham-Hoover, AL 36.08705328
2 Jacksonville, FL 36.00491254
3 Nashville, TN 35.51007346
4 Charlotte, NC 35.49397814
5 Richmond, VA 35.48231748
6 Memphis, TN 35.24315865
7 Atlanta, GA 33.57032269
8 St. Louis, MO 32.67498821
9 Oklahoma City, OK 32.52099947
10 Riverside-San Bernardino, CA 32.31121143
11 Kansas City, MO 31.67943054
12 Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA 31.6695966
13 San Antonio, TX 31.50619907
14 Baltimore, MD 30.8600465
15 Cincinnati, OH 30.50015354
16 Detroit, MI 30.49773926
17 Houston, TX 30.36852661
18 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 30.10589957
19 Columbus, OH 30.05455034
20 Louisville, KY 29.43827926
21 Austin, TX 29.33357792
22 Minneapolis, MN 29.32683313
23 Indianapolis, IN 29.18317903
24 San Diego, CA 28.45594176
25 Washington, DC 28.12791956
26 Phoenix, AZ 28.07457548
27 Denver, CO 28.03213834
28 Cleveland, OH 27.37796817
29 Orlando, FL 27.33720282
30 Hartford, CT 27.17318799
31 Sacramento CA 27.16120935
32 Tampa, FL 26.97627128
33 Milwaukee, WI 26.65938805
34 Providence, RI 26.2931495
35 Salt Lake City, UT 25.43990033
36 Pittsburgh, PA 25.18941354
37 New Orleans, LA 24.93039817
38 San Jose, CA 24.26842258
39 Buffalo, NY 24.22281071
40 Los Angeles, CA 24.16507003
41 Miami, FL 23.66975759
42 Las Vegas, NV 23.62843876
43 Portland, OR 23.30507089
44 Seattle, WA 22.9117118
45 Boston, MA 22.79290209
46 Chicago, IL 21.83503205
47 San Francisco-Oakland, CA 21.67183988
48 Philadelphia, PA 21.11231646
49 New York, NY-NJ-PA 14.42794963

[craigs]

Originally Posted by cabasse

https://www.replicahq.com/2023-vmt-r...ion-learn-more

here's where being a nerd comes in handy:

var table = [];
temp0.childNodes.forEach(n => {table.push({"city": n.childNodes[0].__data__.label, "value": n.childNodes[0].__data__.value})});
console.table(table);

(index) city value
0 Raleigh, NC 38.10697138
1 Birmingham-Hoover, AL 36.08705328
2 Jacksonville, FL 36.00491254
3 Nashville, TN 35.51007346
4 Charlotte, NC 35.49397814
5 Richmond, VA 35.48231748
6 Memphis, TN 35.24315865
7 Atlanta, GA 33.57032269
8 St. Louis, MO 32.67498821
9 Oklahoma City, OK 32.52099947
10 Riverside-San Bernardino, CA 32.31121143
11 Kansas City, MO 31.67943054
12 Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA 31.6695966
13 San Antonio, TX 31.50619907
14 Baltimore, MD 30.8600465
15 Cincinnati, OH 30.50015354
16 Detroit, MI 30.49773926
17 Houston, TX 30.36852661
18 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 30.10589957
19 Columbus, OH 30.05455034
20 Louisville, KY 29.43827926
21 Austin, TX 29.33357792
22 Minneapolis, MN 29.32683313
23 Indianapolis, IN 29.18317903
24 San Diego, CA 28.45594176
25 Washington, DC 28.12791956
26 Phoenix, AZ 28.07457548
27 Denver, CO 28.03213834
28 Cleveland, OH 27.37796817
29 Orlando, FL 27.33720282
30 Hartford, CT 27.17318799
31 Sacramento CA 27.16120935
32 Tampa, FL 26.97627128
33 Milwaukee, WI 26.65938805
34 Providence, RI 26.2931495
35 Salt Lake City, UT 25.43990033
36 Pittsburgh, PA 25.18941354
37 New Orleans, LA 24.93039817
38 San Jose, CA 24.26842258
39 Buffalo, NY 24.22281071
40 Los Angeles, CA 24.16507003
41 Miami, FL 23.66975759
42 Las Vegas, NV 23.62843876
43 Portland, OR 23.30507089
44 Seattle, WA 22.9117118
45 Boston, MA 22.79290209
46 Chicago, IL 21.83503205
47 San Francisco-Oakland, CA 21.67183988
48 Philadelphia, PA 21.11231646
49 New York, NY-NJ-PA 14.42794963

Las Vegas, Miami, and Los Angeles rank surprisingly well on this list.

[edale]

Originally Posted by craigs

Las Vegas, Miami, and Los Angeles rank surprisingly well on this list.

All are metros with pretty hard edges. Vegas abruptly goes from dense suburbia to open desert, and there are almost no satellite towns to draw commuters from. South Florida has a similar cutoff line with the Everglades. LA has less of a hard edge, though the mountains and desert also constrain development. I think LA probably benefits on this list from having the IE counted as a separate metro. There are many, many people who do long commutes from the IE to LA or vice versa, which would undoubtedly drive LA's numbers up if they were considered a single metro. As an anecdote, I just spent the weekend with a friend who lives in Pasadena but works all the way out in Upland. SF and San Jose also benefit from this.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by edale

All are metros with pretty hard edges. Vegas abruptly goes from dense suburbia to open desert, and there are almost no satellite towns to draw commuters from. South Florida has a similar cutoff line with the Everglades. LA has less of a hard edge, though the mountains and desert also constrain development. I think LA probably benefits on this list from having the IE counted as a separate metro. There are many, many people who do long commutes from the IE to LA or vice versa, which would undoubtedly drive LA's numbers up if they were considered a single metro. As an anecdote, I just spent the weekend with a friend who lives in Pasadena but works all the way out in Upland. SF and San Jose also benefit from this.

Personally, I consider the Bay Area and the Southland to each be a single metropolitan area, but the powers that be disagree. So we have each of those regions split into not merely two, but multiple MSAs (e.g., Santa Rosa and Oxnard-Ventura). It's not that LA and SF "benefit" from anything here, it's just how the comparison is being made. I suspect many other areas would see a change in the numbers and perhaps rankings if we compared CSAs.

[edale]

Originally Posted by craigs

Personally, I consider the Bay Area and the Southland to each be a single metropolitan area, but the powers that be disagree. So we have each of those regions split into not merely two, but multiple MSAs (e.g., Santa Rosa and Oxnard-Ventura). It's not that LA and SF "benefit" from anything here, it's just how the comparison is being made. I suspect many other areas would see a change in the numbers and perhaps rankings if we compared CSAs.

You said Vegas, Miami, and LA "do well" on this list, but take issue with my use of the word benefit? LA 'benefits' in this sense by having a better ranking on this list due to the IE being a separate MSA. Not that anyone cares, or even knows, about this list besides this handful of nerds on SSP

I'm quite familiar with how the census defines MSAs, and the oddities that abound with metro area divisions. Depending on the subject of the list at hand, having adjoining metro areas separated can either make a region rank better or worse/higher or lower. I agree that the greater Bay Area should be a single MSA. I also agree that the IE and LA should be a single MSA.

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by craigs

Las Vegas, Miami, and Los Angeles rank surprisingly well on this list.

vegas is the biggest surprise to me. i get miami and LA - both denser than normal even in the suburbs.

there were some other rankings also worth sharing:

Walking Mode Share, Top 50 MSAs:

(index) city value
0 New York, NY-NJ-PA 0.1815737843
1 Boston, MA 0.1473373098
2 San Francisco-Oakland, CA 0.139640862
3 Seattle, WA 0.1273408593
4 Philadelphia, PA 0.1250711894
5 Chicago, IL 0.1190967123
6 Pittsburgh, PA 0.1163469052
7 Portland, OR 0.1140582058
8 Washington, DC 0.1124655619
9 Buffalo, NY 0.1087280851
10 Providence, RI 0.1058235695
11 Los Angeles, CA 0.1057210742
12 San Jose, CA 0.1032375264
13 New Orleans, LA 0.1028928506
14 Minneapolis, MN 0.1020927278
15 Hartford, CT 0.101401193
16 San Diego, CA 0.1001286604
17 Cleveland, OH 0.1000203578
18 Milwaukee, WI 0.09959661226
19 Denver, CO 0.0976859458
20 Columbus, OH 0.09722163173
21 Baltimore, MD 0.09534852264
22 Cincinnati, OH 0.09471649307
23 Salt Lake City, UT 0.09430354232
24 Sacramento CA 0.09269932504
25 Austin, TX 0.09197543951
26 Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA 0.09185393941
27 St. Louis, MO 0.09127881408
28 Detroit, MI 0.09123515744
29 Louisville, KY 0.09088171407
30 Indianapolis, IN 0.08882535896
31 Phoenix, AZ 0.08756419778
32 Riverside-San Bernardino, CA 0.08744660098
33 Atlanta, GA 0.0866245642
34 Miami, FL 0.08644509108
35 Memphis, TN 0.08622366266
36 Richmond, VA 0.08587740177
37 Las Vegas, NV 0.08580248181
38 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 0.08560598385
39 Orlando, FL 0.08530217381
40 Charlotte, NC 0.0850441949
41 Oklahoma City, OK 0.0848730262
42 San Antonio, TX 0.08451245291
43 Kansas City, MO 0.08446218188
44 Nashville, TN 0.08441070969
45 Houston, TX 0.08407515842
46 Tampa, FL 0.0839402177
47 Raleigh, NC 0.08155353661
48 Birmingham-Hoover, AL 0.0813420488
49 Jacksonville, FL 0.08129615952

Average Daily Travel Minutes per capita, Top 50 MSAs

(index) city value
0 Nashville, TN 140.6325779
1 Birmingham-Hoover, AL 129.5486075
2 Atlanta, GA 126.1685451
3 Charlotte, NC 123.2651899
4 Pittsburgh, PA 121.8803947
5 Indianapolis, IN 121.4001601
6 Cincinnati, OH 120.6423223
7 Memphis, TN 120.151791
8 Louisville, KY 119.2372413
9 Jacksonville, FL 118.6909948
10 Raleigh, NC 118.0379252
11 St. Louis, MO 117.1516839
12 Denver, CO 116.9200478
13 Seattle, WA 116.675465
14 Detroit, MI 116.1097763
15 Baltimore, MD 115.0297775
16 Riverside-San Bernardino, CA 113.9553257
17 Richmond, VA 113.4346381
18 Washington, DC 112.1751819
19 Columbus, OH 111.6154579
20 Boston, MA 111.3718927
21 Oklahoma City, OK 111.1646928
22 Sacramento CA 110.9455692
23 Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA 109.7350217
24 Cleveland, OH 109.7282791
25 Houston, TX 108.8345432
26 Portland, OR 108.5504391
27 Milwaukee, WI 108.4109738
28 Providence, RI 108.2876997
29 Austin, TX 108.1790554
30 San Antonio, TX 107.3931284
31 Hartford, CT 105.8616411
32 Kansas City, MO 105.7914648
33 Tampa, FL 105.5155347
34 Minneapolis, MN 105.2974242
35 Chicago, IL 105.2412251
36 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 104.8709494
37 Orlando, FL 104.8373145
38 San Francisco-Oakland, CA 103.8926021
39 Phoenix, AZ 103.0463698
40 San Diego, CA 102.9933743
41 Philadelphia, PA 101.5064396
42 San Jose, CA 99.68635438
43 Buffalo, NY 99.32514907
44 Los Angeles, CA 99.00802345
45 New Orleans, LA 96.79051171
46 Salt Lake City, UT 96.60954754
47 Miami, FL 94.27442585
48 Las Vegas, NV 89.80309521
49 New York, NY-NJ-PA 88.33746844

[Crawford]

So DC is the only transit-oriented metro (for American standards) with a comparatively high share of average miles driven.

And the "which is more urban/transit oriented" comparisons make sense for Boston, Philly, Chicago and SF. They're all about the same in terms of miles driven.

[Prahaboheme]

Originally Posted by Crawford

So DC is the only transit-oriented metro (for American standards) with a comparatively high share of average miles driven.

And the "which is more urban/transit oriented" comparisons make sense for Boston, Philly, Chicago and SF. They're all about the same in terms of miles driven.

Not terribly surprised that DC lands somewhere in the middle despite a metro and transit presence given a few factors:

- military presence scattered about the MSA which is naturally ex-urban
- MSA map is absurdly defined stretching from Shenandoah on the West, WV/MD to the NW, MD/VA Cheasapeake on the East
- Its a polymorphous metro with major nodes in suburban areas - namely Tyson's Corner, Reston, Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda, Gathersburg etc.
- Sandwiched between Richmond and Baltimore MSAs, further clogging arteries

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Average daily weekday private vehicle miles traveled in fall 2023
Per adult; among the 50 largest U.S. metro areas

Most miles traveled
1 Raleigh, N.C. - 38.1
2 Birmingham, Ala. - 36.1
3 Jacksonville, Fla. - 36.0
4 Nashville, Tenn. - 35.5
5 Charlotte, N.C. - 35.5

top 50 MSA average.- 30.1 miles

Fewest miles traveled
46 Boston - 22.8
47 Chicago - 21.8
48 San Francisco - 21.7
49 Philadelphia - 21.1
50 New York - 14.4

Source: https://www.axios.com/2024/06/13/cha...iving-capitals

Interesting that the top 5 are all much smaller than any of the bottom 5.

Average population of the top 5: 1,775,047
Average population of the bottom 5: 9,093,395

You would think that people in smaller metros would cover a smaller area than people in larger metros. Additionally, there's a bit of an income bias, but not as pronounced as the size gap:

Average median household income of the top 5: $78,950
Average median household income of the bottom 5: $98,209


There's also a bit of a gap in house price, but again, not as pronounced as the size gap:

Average median housing value (owner occupied) top 5: $358,540
Average median housing value (owner occupied) bottom 5: $593,260

[Bailey]

I'm in Inner Loop Houston and my commute from home to work is 3.2 miles!

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

You would think that people in smaller metros would cover a smaller area than people in larger metros. Additionally, there's a bit of an income bias, but not as pronounced as the size gap:

Jevons paradox in action. You live in a small city where traffic is light and it's not that big across, but then you make up for it by spending more time in your car, covering more ground.

It's almost like people drive as much as they can until they're annoyed.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Jevons paradox in action. You live in a small city where traffic is light and it's not that big across, but then you make up for it by spending more time in your car, covering more ground.

It's almost like people drive as much as they can until they're annoyed.

The other piece of the equation is that the cities at the bottom are among the most transit-heavy cities in the nation, so on balance they have higher proportions of people like me who don't drive at all (or very little) on a daily basis, thus adding zero (or a very small amount of) miles to the numerator, but a +1 to the denominator, significantly lowering averages in aggregate.