Road trip statistics depend on the definition used. A 2025 AAA survey measured recent self-reported road trips, while the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) defines a long-distance trip as traveling more than 50 miles from home to the furthest destination; holiday figures from AAA are forecasts rather than completed counts.
Key Road Trip Statistics
The most useful headline figures span everyday driving, long-distance travel, vehicle modes and holiday periods:
- 30.1% of U.S. residents reported taking at least one road trip in the previous four weeks in 2025.
- The average 2025 U.S. road trip was 234.8 miles one way among trips included in AAA’s analysis.
- 95.0% of U.S. residents age 16 and older reported driving at least occasionally in 2025.
- U.S. drivers averaged 2.40 driving trips per day in 2025.
- U.S. drivers averaged 59.3 minutes of driving per day in 2025.
- U.S. drivers averaged 28.6 miles of driving per day in 2025.
- Personal vehicles accounted for 90% of U.S. long-distance trips in the 2001–2002 NHTS.
- The median long-distance personal-vehicle trip was 194 miles in the 2001–2002 NHTS.
- Pleasure trips represented 56% of U.S. long-distance trips in the 2001–2002 NHTS.
- 62% of U.S. long-distance trips stayed within the traveler’s home state in the 2001–2002 NHTS.
- Private vehicles accounted for almost 161 billion U.S. trips in 2022.
- 72% of U.S. private-vehicle trips occurred on weekdays and 28% on weekends in 2022.
- SUVs accounted for 30% of U.S. passenger travel trips in 2022.
- Public-road usage reached 3.3 trillion vehicle-miles in the 50 states and District of Columbia in 2024.
- People spent an average of 44 minutes per day in a vehicle as driver or passenger in the United States in 2022.
- AAA forecast 107 million people would travel by auto at least 50 miles from home during the 2024 year-end holiday period.
- AAA forecast 38.4 million people would travel by car during Memorial Day weekend 2024.
Contents
- Road trip participation and everyday driving scale
- Long-distance road trip modes and distances
- Road trip purposes, destinations and traveler profiles
- Traffic timing and weekend road-trip patterns
- Vehicle choices and national road-use trends
- Holiday road-trip volumes and travel costs
Road Trip Participation and Everyday Driving Scale
AAA’s 2025 American Driving Survey provides a recent, self-reported measure of road-trip participation. It found that 30.1% of U.S. residents had taken at least one road trip during the previous four weeks, and the average one-way length was 234.8 miles among trips with a reported vehicle year.
These results describe a recent survey window, not the number of road trips made by the entire population over a full year. (American Driving Survey: 2025)
The same survey places road trips within a much larger everyday driving system:
- In 2025, 95.0% of U.S. residents age 16 and older reported driving at least occasionally.
- U.S. drivers averaged 2.40 driving trips per day in 2025.
- U.S. drivers averaged 59.3 minutes and 28.6 miles of driving per day in 2025.
- AAA estimated approximately 232 billion driving trips, 95 billion hours of driving and 2.76 trillion vehicle-miles for U.S. drivers in 2025.
The three annual totals are estimates projected from daily survey averages and an estimated driver population, so they should not be read as a direct count of leisure road trips. The survey’s road-trip measure also uses self-reported answers.
Long-Distance Road Trip Modes and Distances
The BTS long-distance quick facts use a different threshold: more than 50 miles from home to the furthest destination. Its 2001–2002 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) found that personal vehicles dominated these trips, although the figures are historical and should not be presented as current behavior. (National Household Travel Survey Long Distance Travel Quick Facts)
| Long-distance mode or measure | NHTS result | Definition or period |
|---|---|---|
| Personal vehicle | 90% of trips | More than 50 miles; 2001–2002 |
| Air | 7% of trips | More than 50 miles; 2001–2002 |
| Bus | 2% of trips | More than 50 miles; 2001–2002 |
| Train | 1% of trips | More than 50 miles; 2001–2002 |
| Annual long-distance travel | 2.6 billion trips | U.S. annualized estimate |
| Annual long-distance travel | 1.3 trillion person-miles | U.S. annualized estimate |
Personal vehicles were used for almost all trips shorter than 300 roundtrip miles in that historical NHTS, while nearly three-fourths of trips over 2,000 roundtrip miles were made by airplane. The source does not provide an exact percentage for “almost all.”
Median trip distances also varied by mode:
- The median long-distance personal-vehicle trip was 194 miles.
- The median long-distance train trip was 192 miles.
- The median long-distance bus trip was 287 miles.
- The median long-distance air trip was 2,068 miles.
These are medians rather than averages, and all four distance figures refer to the 2001–2002 NHTS long-distance-trip population.
Road Trip Purposes, Destinations and Traveler Profiles
The historical BTS data show that long-distance travel included leisure, work and personal obligations. Pleasure trips—defined by the source to include vacations, sightseeing, visiting friends or relatives, and outdoor recreation—represented 56% of long-distance trips in 2001–2002.
| Long-distance trip characteristic | Share | Period and population |
|---|---|---|
| Pleasure | 56% | U.S. long-distance trips, 2001–2002 |
| Business | 16% | U.S. long-distance trips, 2001–2002 |
| Commuting to work | 13% | U.S. long-distance trips, 2001–2002 |
| Destination within the United States | 98% | U.S. long-distance trips, 2001–2002 |
| Stayed within traveler’s home state | 62% | U.S. long-distance trips, 2001–2002 |
Traveler characteristics were also measured in the same survey:
- Men made 57% of long-distance trips, using the sex categories reported by the source.
- Women made 55% of long-distance bus trips.
- Travelers with household income of $50,000 or more made 57% of long-distance trips; the income threshold was nominal in the historical source.
- Almost two-thirds of long-distance trips were made by travelers ages 25–64.
The destination and demographic figures are not a current national profile. They describe the BTS quick-facts population from 2001–2002 and use the definitions and categories available in that survey.
Traffic Timing and Weekend Road-Trip Patterns
FHWA’s 2022 NHTS summary counted almost 161 billion trips by privately operated vehicles in the United States. Trips were counted regardless of the number of occupants, so this measure is broader than single-driver travel and does not isolate vacations. (Our Nation’s Highways 2026: Travel)
- Weekdays accounted for 72% of private-vehicle trips in 2022, while weekends accounted for 28%.
- Weekday commuting represented 31% of weekday private-vehicle trips.
- Weekday family and personal travel represented 39% of weekday trips, including shopping and medical appointments.
- Weekday social and recreational travel represented 20% of weekday trips.
- School- and church-related trips represented 3% of overall travel.
- Weekend social and recreational travel represented 40% of weekend trips.
- Weekend family and personal travel represented 37% of weekend trips.
The most common weekday private-vehicle trip start time was 7 a.m. in 2022. Weekend travel had a most common start time of 1 p.m., with another peak at 6 p.m.; these are timing patterns, not the share of trips starting at those times.
Vehicle Choices and National Road-Use Trends
The FHWA 2022 passenger-travel mode table gives a useful view of the vehicle categories used for passenger trips, but it is not a vehicle-ownership or sales table:
| Passenger-travel mode | Share of trips | Period and geography |
|---|---|---|
| Cars | 40% | U.S. passenger travel, 2022 |
| SUVs | 30% | U.S. passenger travel, 2022 |
| Pickup trucks | 10% | U.S. passenger travel, 2022 |
National road use is larger than road-trip travel alone. FHWA recorded 3.3 trillion vehicle-miles and 5.2 trillion person-miles on public roads across the 50 states and District of Columbia in 2024, equivalent to 9,714 vehicle-miles per resident and 15,289 person-miles per person under FHWA’s per-capita measures.
These figures cover all public-road travel, not specifically leisure trips.
The pandemic produced a sharp temporary change in road use: U.S. vehicle-miles traveled in April 2020 fell to 40% of the same month a year earlier, an unprecedented monthly decline described by FHWA. By contrast, the 2022 NHTS found that people spent an average of 44 minutes per day in a vehicle as driver or passenger, 25% below 2017 and 28% below 2009.
The 2022 driving-time table separates all drivers from people who drove on the assigned survey day:
- Average daily driving time across all drivers was 40.79 minutes in 2022, compared with 55.62 minutes in 2017 and 56.09 minutes in 2009.
- Among people who drove on the assigned day, average driving time was 64.63 minutes in 2022, compared with 78.91 minutes in 2017.
The all-driver measure includes people who did not report driving on their assigned day, while the driving-day measure excludes those non-drivers. (Summary of Travel Trends: 2022 National Household Travel Survey)
Holiday Road-Trip Volumes and Travel Costs
AAA’s year-end holiday figures are forecasts for travel at least 50 miles from home, not post-period counts. For December 21, 2024 through January 1, 2025, AAA forecast 119 million total U.S. travelers, including 107 million people traveling by auto.
The total forecast was 3 million higher than the 2023 forecast. (AAA: Record Number of Holiday Travelers Expected to Close Out 2024)
| Holiday period | Auto or car travelers | Status and geography |
|---|---|---|
| Year-end 2024–2025 | 107 million | AAA forecast; U.S., 50-mile threshold |
| Year-end 2024–2025 | 119 million total travelers | AAA forecast; all modes, U.S. |
| Year-end 2023 | 104.5 million | AAA forecast; U.S. auto travelers |
| Year-end 2022 | 101.5 million | AAA forecast; U.S. auto travelers |
| Memorial Day 2024 | 38.4 million | AAA forecast; U.S. car travelers |
For Memorial Day weekend 2024, AAA forecast car travel to be 4% higher than in 2023 and described the 38.4 million travelers as the highest for that holiday since its tracking began in 2000. In Illinois, the forecast was 1,884,129 car travelers in 2024 versus 1,820,441 in 2023. (AAA: Nearly 44 million Travelers will Take to the Roads and Sky for the Unofficial Start of Summer)
AAA’s Memorial Day booking data also provide travel-price context, but not a road-trip budget. The average domestic round-trip flight price was $778, and the average international hotel stay cost $660; the hotel figure may cover multiple nights, and neither measure is a direct cost of driving.