Registered automobiles

Automobiles registered during the year, taxicabs included.

More on how it is measured
  • FHWA Highway Statistics table MV-1 counts the vehicles registered in each state during the year, from the records of the state motor vehicle agencies: private, commercial and publicly owned vehicles, but not those of the armed forces.
  • A vehicle is counted in the state that registered it.
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From the 2012 table FHWA allocates light-duty vehicles between automobiles and trucks with its own method, and automobiles fall from 125.7 million in 2011 to 111.3 million in 2012 while trucks rise from 118.5 million to 133.1 million, so the split is not comparable across those years. The all motor vehicles total is. Many sport utility vehicles, pickups and vans count as trucks, not automobiles. States keep their registers differently: some report registration transactions during the year or vehicles on multi-year registrations instead of active registrations, and a change in what a state reports can move its count sharply from one year to the next (Delaware in 2021, New York in 2024). Values for states FHWA estimated, or for which it repeated the previous year, are marked estimated. FHWA publishes some counts with fractions; they are rounded to whole vehicles.

Key facts

Figures last updated on 2026-10-18.

Rankings

US states by registered automobiles, 2024

Top 15. Source: Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.

California: 12,979,522 countCalifornia12,979,522Texas: 7,281,613 countTexas7,281,613Florida: 7,210,114 countFlorida7,210,114New York: 6,474,059 countNew York6,474,059Ohio: 3,805,614 countOhio3,805,614Illinois: 3,514,238 countIllinois3,514,238Pennsylvania: 3,371,581 countPennsylvania3,371,581Georgia: 3,206,610 countGeorgia3,206,610North Carolina: 3,005,649 countNorth Carolina3,005,649Virginia: 2,833,864 countVirginia2,833,864Washington: 2,535,919 countWashington2,535,919Michigan: 2,494,236 countMichigan2,494,236Arizona: 2,287,531 countArizona2,287,531New Jersey: 2,275,055 countNew Jersey2,275,055Tennessee: 2,253,028 countTennessee2,253,028California: 12,979,522 countCalifornia12,979,522Texas: 7,281,613 countTexas7,281,613Florida: 7,210,114 countFlorida7,210,114New York: 6,474,059 countNew York6,474,059Ohio: 3,805,614 countOhio3,805,614Illinois: 3,514,238 countIllinois3,514,238Pennsylvania: 3,371,581 countPennsylvania3,371,581Georgia: 3,206,610 countGeorgia3,206,610North Carolina: 3,005,649 countNorth Carolina3,005,649Virginia: 2,833,864 countVirginia2,833,864Washington: 2,535,919 countWashington2,535,919Michigan: 2,494,236 countMichigan2,494,236Arizona: 2,287,531 countArizona2,287,531New Jersey: 2,275,055 countNew Jersey2,275,055Tennessee: 2,253,028 countTennessee2,253,028
count. Source: FHWA, Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states. Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Full ranking of states

Places with data

Published for countries, regions and states.

Countries

Regions and states

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