Americans drove 97 percent as many miles in July 2022 as they had in July 2019, the year before the pandemic, according to data released yesterday by the Federal Highway Administration. This is only the fourth month out of the last fourteen in which driving was less than 100 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
See this post for sources of data for Amtrak, air travel, and transit.
The dip in driving in April was explainable by the spike in fuel prices caused by the war in Ukraine. Prices actually peaked in mid-June and have declined almost every day since, so it isn’t clear why driving declined a bit in July.
Strangely, Americans drove more miles per day in June, the month with the highest gas prices, than any other month since July 2021. Miles of driving per day usually peak in July, yet in July 2022 they were 1.8 percent lower than in June.
These numbers are preliminary and the Federal Highway Administration usually updates them in later months. The above chart may look a little different from previous ones as I’ve used the agency’s latest figures. It is possible if not likely that an update of July 2022 numbers will push them above June’s numbers.
July driving in Arizona was a stunning 22 percent greater than in 2019. But July driving exceeded 2019 levels in just 12 other states and the District of Columbia. Driving in Delaware was supposedly only 68 percent of July 2019 levels. That looks like a number that is likely to be corrected in future updates.
Yeah its called school return…..the buses are back.