Americans drove 102.7 percent as many miles in August of 2024 as in the same month of 2019, according to data released yesterday by the Federal Highway Administration. Moreover, this is the first month I can remember since the pandemic began that driving exceeded pre-pandemic numbers on all types of roads, including urban and rural interstates, other arterials, and other roads.
For a discussion of Amtrak and airline data, see this post. For a discussion of transit data, see this post.
August 2024 driving was greater than 2019 driving in 28 states, while it was less in 22 states plus DC. DC driving was slightly less than 80 percent of 2019 miles, and miles of driving were also particularly low in Delaware (82%), Hawaii (84%), West Virginia (86%), and Massachusetts (88%).
At the other extreme, Arizona saw 46 percent more driving than in 2019. Other states with more than a 10 percent increase include Idaho and Alaska (15% each), Arkansas (13%), Tennessee (12%), and Maine (12%). As I have speculated before, it is likely that at least some of the decreases and increases in driving are due to people moving away from dense urban areas such as Boston and San Francisco (California urban driving was about 4 percent less than 2019) to low-density areas such as Maine and Idaho.
Surprisingly, 2024 driving miles in urban areas were also greater than in 2019 in 27 states. The increase in Arizona was 42 percent, while Arkansas, Idaho, and Nevada saw more than 10 percent increases. Arizona’s huge increase seems frankly suspicious, but it reported 29 percent more driving in July 2024 than 2019, so the August increase isn’t completely impossible.
On another note, last month I was surprised that the Federal Highway Administration released its July driving data as early as September 3, as it is rare that the monthly highway data are issued before transit ridership data. Yet the Federal Highway Administration waited until almost the end of October before releasing August driving data. This isn’t really important but it does seem strange that the releases would be so irregular.
