Data / Registered automobiles / North Carolina

Registered automobiles in North Carolina

Registered automobiles in North Carolina was 3.01 million in 2024, according to the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. That is down 2.5% from 2023. That is the 9th highest of 51 states in 2024.

2024, count3,005,649
Change on 2023-2.5%
Rank9th of 51US states ranked
Series high3,546,3632016
Series low3,005,6492024

Next release: Tuesday, 23 February 2027, estimated by Invokely from past publication dates (low confidence), not announced by the publisher. Release calendar

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Registered automobiles in North Carolina, 2010 to 2024

3M3.2M3.4M3.6M201020132016201920242010: 3,281,831 count2011: 3,264,444 count2012: 3,445,365 count2013: 3,495,804 count2014: 3,474,768 count2015: 3,439,151 count2016: 3,546,363 count2017: 3,317,918 count2018: 3,393,781 count2019: 3,434,565 count2020: 3,398,470 count2021: 3,280,487 count2022: 3,276,070 count2023: 3,082,979 count2024: 3,005,649 count3M3.2M3.4M3.6M20102015202020242010: 3,281,831 count2011: 3,264,444 count2012: 3,445,365 count2013: 3,495,804 count2014: 3,474,768 count2015: 3,439,151 count2016: 3,546,363 count2017: 3,317,918 count2018: 3,393,781 count2019: 3,434,565 count2020: 3,398,470 count2021: 3,280,487 count2022: 3,276,070 count2023: 3,082,979 count2024: 3,005,649 count
count. Source: FHWA, Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states. Retrieved 2026-10-18, published 2026-02-23.
All 15 values
Periodcount
20243,005,649
20233,082,979
20223,276,070
20213,280,487
20203,398,470
20193,434,565
20183,393,781
20173,317,918
20163,546,363
20153,439,151
20143,474,768
20133,495,804
20123,445,365 Estimated
20113,264,444
20103,281,831

Compared with United States

Place2024
North Carolina3,005,649
United States97,413,321

North Carolina compared with nearby places

Alabama: 1,937,330 countAlaska: 122,678 countArizona: 2,287,531 countArkansas: 911,769 countCalifornia: 12,979,522 countColorado: 1,356,526 countConnecticut: 1,028,799 countDelaware: 148,493 countDistrict of Columbia: 150,476 countFlorida: 7,210,114 countGeorgia: 3,206,610 countHawaii: 422,292 countIdaho: 510,516 countIllinois: 3,514,238 countIndiana: 1,791,108 countIowa: 1,006,994 countKansas: 594,786 countKentucky: 1,458,659 countLouisiana: 1,370,563 countMaine: 312,473 countMaryland: 1,908,452 countMassachusetts: 1,706,714 countMichigan: 2,494,236 countMinnesota: 1,609,042 countMississippi: 756,941 countMissouri: 1,645,714 countMontana: 525,226 countNebraska: 561,111 countNevada: 843,099 countNew Hampshire: 391,064 countNew Jersey: 2,275,055 countNew Mexico: 590,034 countNew York: 6,474,059 countNorth Carolina: 3,005,649 countNorth Dakota: 215,289 countOhio: 3,805,614 countOklahoma: 1,061,114 countOregon: 1,308,985 countPennsylvania: 3,371,581 countRhode Island: 308,699 countSouth Carolina: 1,720,378 countSouth Dakota: 282,489 countTennessee: 2,253,028 countTexas: 7,281,613 countUtah: 970,972 countVermont: 164,231 countVirginia: 2,833,864 countWashington: 2,535,919 countWest Virginia: 398,614 countWisconsin: 1,626,951 countWyoming: 166,107 count
  • Under 300K
  • 300K to 700K
  • 700K to 1.4M
  • 1.4M to 1.8M
  • 1.8M to 2.9M
  • 2.9M and over
Registered automobiles, 2024, count. North Carolina is outlined. Same source and period for every area shown. Source: Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

Rankings

Definition

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.

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.

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How to cite

Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Highway Statistics, Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm. Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. (2026). Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states (Registered automobiles, North Carolina, 2010 to 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm

MLA 9

Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states, Registered automobiles, North Carolina, 2010 to 2024. Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 23 Feb. 2026, https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/registered-automobiles/north-carolina. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. 2026. Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states. Registered automobiles, North Carolina, 2010 to 2024. Dataset. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/registered-automobiles/north-carolina.

Harvard

Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation (2026) Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states, Registered automobiles, North Carolina, 2010 to 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/registered-automobiles/north-carolina (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{federal_registered_automobiles_north_carolina_2024,
  author = {{Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation}},
  title = {{Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states: Registered automobiles, North Carolina, 2010 to 2024}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm},
  urldate = {2026-10-18},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/registered-automobiles/north-carolina. Publisher attribution: Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Highway Statistics, Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm. Retrieved 2026-10-18.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
TI  - Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states: Registered automobiles, North Carolina, 2010 to 2024
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/23
PB  - Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/registered-automobiles/north-carolina
Y2  - 2026/10/18
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/registered-automobiles/north-carolina.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Highway Statistics, Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm. Retrieved 2026-10-18.
ER  -
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Questions

What is the registered automobiles in North Carolina?

Registered automobiles in North Carolina was 3.01 million in 2024, according to the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. That is down 2.5% from 2023. That is the 9th highest of 51 states in 2024.

Where does this figure come from?

Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states. Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-18.

What was the highest registered automobiles in North Carolina?

3.55 million in 2016, the highest value since 2010 in this series.

Registered automobiles elsewhere in United States

Related statistics for North Carolina

All statistics for North Carolina | North Carolina in figures