Subscribe to Fact of the Week

A research study for the Bureau of Transportation Statistics focused on the number of daily trips taken in the United States. In 2021, 52% of all trips, including all modes of transportation, were less than three miles, with 28% of trips less than one mile. Just 2% of all trips were greater than 50 miles.

A trip was defined as a movement that includes a stay of longer than 10 minutes at a location away from home. Multiple stays of longer than 10 minutes before returning home were counted as multiple trips. The trips included driving, rail, transit, and air.

Share of Trips by Distance, 2021

Source: Estimated for the Bureau of Transportation Statistics by the Maryland Transportation Institute and Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory at the University of Maryland. The travel statistics are produced from an anonymized national panel of mobile device data from multiple sources.