US states by registered automobiles
California had the highest registered automobiles of 51 states in 2020, at 14.2 million. Alaska had the lowest, at 171,144. The median was 1.44 million and the figure for the United States was 105.14 million. Source: the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.
Map of states, 2020
- Under 400K
- 400K to 800K
- 800K to 1.4M
- 1.4M to 2M
- 2M to 3.3M
- 3.3M and over
All states, 2020
Full ranking
| Rank | States | 2020 | Change on 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 14,201,400 | -4.7% |
| 2 | Texas | 8,088,058 | -2.7% |
| 3 | Florida | 7,841,553 | 0% |
| 4 | Ohio | 4,247,843 | -4% |
| 5 | New York | 4,232,748 | -4.8% |
| 6 | Illinois | 4,161,655 | -3.7% |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | 4,043,715 | -5.3% |
| 8 | Georgia | 3,495,421 | -0.1% |
| 9 | North Carolina | 3,398,470 | -1.1% |
| 10 | Virginia | 3,057,254 | -4.1% |
| 11 | Washington | 2,800,370 | -4.9% |
| 12 | Michigan | 2,691,704 | -4.9% |
| 13 | New Jersey | 2,541,125 | -3.7% |
| 14 | Arizona | 2,410,018 | +0.2% |
| 15 | Indiana | 2,123,748 | -2.8% |
| 16 | Tennessee | 2,115,632 | -3.2% |
| 17 | Alabama | 2,035,376 | -3.5% |
| 18 | Massachusetts Estimated | 2,003,373 | -4.1% |
| 19 | Missouri | 1,991,376 | -3% |
| 20 | Wisconsin | 1,901,497 | -5.1% |
| 21 | Minnesota | 1,841,690 | +0.3% |
| 22 | Maryland | 1,823,553 | -2.4% |
| 23 | South Carolina | 1,767,348 | -1.9% |
| 24 | Kentucky | 1,644,497 | -1.5% |
| 25 | Colorado | 1,639,028 | -5.9% |
| 26 | Oregon | 1,440,848 | +1.1% |
| 27 | Louisiana | 1,315,691 | -2.5% |
| 28 | Oklahoma | 1,223,848 | -2.5% |
| 29 | Connecticut | 1,211,171 | -3.9% |
| 30 | Iowa | 1,163,751 | -4.8% |
| 31 | Nevada | 1,027,503 | -3.1% |
| 32 | Utah | 902,723 | -2.1% |
| 33 | Kansas | 889,083 | -6.1% |
| 34 | Arkansas | 872,437 | -1.6% |
| 35 | Mississippi | 788,425 | -2.2% |
| 36 | Nebraska | 624,907 | -5.6% |
| 37 | New Mexico | 623,955 | -2.8% |
| 38 | Idaho | 588,362 | -2.3% |
| 39 | West Virginia | 508,663 | -5.2% |
| 40 | Hawaii | 474,979 | -4.8% |
| 41 | New Hampshire | 460,825 | -5.8% |
| 42 | Montana | 459,081 | +4.5% |
| 43 | Delaware | 415,915 | -1.8% |
| 44 | Rhode Island | 381,767 | -3.7% |
| 45 | Maine | 356,079 | -4.8% |
| 46 | South Dakota | 325,001 | -5.2% |
| 47 | North Dakota | 215,654 | -5.8% |
| 48 | District of Columbia | 210,297 | +3.2% |
| 49 | Vermont | 193,407 | -6.4% |
| 50 | Wyoming | 191,332 | -2.5% |
| 51 | Alaska | 171,144 | -4.1% |
Other periods
About this ranking
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.
Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.
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
APA 7
Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. (2026). Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states (US states by registered automobiles, 2020) [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, US states by registered automobiles, 2020. Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 23 Feb. 2026, https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/registered-automobiles/us-states?period=2020. 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. US states by registered automobiles, 2020. Dataset. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/registered-automobiles/us-states?period=2020.
Harvard
Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation (2026) Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states, US states by registered automobiles, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/registered-automobiles/us-states?period=2020 (Accessed: 18 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{federal_us_states_by_registered_2020,
author = {{Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation}},
title = {{Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states: US states by registered automobiles, 2020}},
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/rankings/registered-automobiles/us-states?period=2020. 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: US states by registered automobiles, 2020
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/rankings/registered-automobiles/us-states?period=2020
Y2 - 2026/10/18
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/registered-automobiles/us-states?period=2020.
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 -
Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
Rank US states by registered automobiles using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"registered_automobiles","level":"region","within":"United States","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=registered_automobiles&level=region&within=United%20States&limit=10Questions
Which state has the highest registered automobiles?
California, with 14.2 million in 2020, according to the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.
Which state has the lowest registered automobiles?
Alaska, with 171,144 in 2020.
Where does this ranking come from?
Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations (automobiles, total), United States and states. Retrieved 2026-10-18.