Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption and Travel in the U.S., 1960–2006

The following table represents over 40 years worth of motor vehicle fuel consumption and travel data for the United States, as compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation. It's America's love affair with the car -- reduced to numbers.

	1960	1970	1980	1990	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Number registered (thousands)
Passenger car	61,671	89,244	121,601	133,700	136,066	129,728	129,749	131,839	132,432	133,621	137,633	135,921	135,670	136,431	136,568	135,400
Total¹	73,858	111,242	161,490	193,057	205,297	210,441	211,580	215,496	220,461	225,821	235,331	234,624	236,760	237,243	247,421^R	250,852
Vehicle-miles traveled (millions)
Passenger car	587,000	917,000	1,112,000	1,408,000	1,541,458	1,469,854	1,501,820	1,545,830	1,569,100	1,601,914	1,628,332	1,658,640	1,672,079	1,699,890	1,708,421^R	1,682,671
Total¹	719,000	1,110,000	1,527,000	2,144,000	2,422,775	2,485,848	2,550,373	2,625,367	2,691,056	2,749,803	2,797,287	2,855,756	2,890,450	2,964,788	2,989,430^R	3,014,116
Fuel consumed (million gallons)
Passenger car	41,171	67,819	69,982	69,568	68,317	69,221	69,867	72,209	73,283	72,916	73,559	74,949	75,455	75,402	77,418^R	74,983
Total¹	57,880	92,329	114,960	130,755	143,266	147,365	150,332	154,884	161,411	162,260	163,478	167,730	170,069	178,536	174,787^R	174,930
Average miles traveled per vehicle (thousands)
Passenger car	9.5	10.3	9.1	10.5	11.3	11.3	11.6	11.7	11.8	12.0	11.8	12.2	12.3	12.5	12.5^R	12.4
Total¹	9.7	10.0	9.5	11.1	11.8	11.8	12.1	12.2	12.2	12.2	11.9	12.2	12.2	12.5	12.1^R	12.0
Average miles traveled per gallon
Passenger car	14.3	13.5	15.9	20.2	22.6	21.2	21.5	21.4	21.4	22.0	22.1	22.1	22.2	22.5	22.1^R	22.4
Total¹	12.4	12.0	13.3	16.4	16.9	16.9	17.0	17.0	16.7	16.9	17.1	17.0	17.0	16.6	17.1^R	17.2
Average annual fuel consumed per vehicle (gallons)
Passenger car	668	760	576	520	502	534	538	548	553	546	534	551	556	553	567^R	554
Total¹	784	830	712	677	698	700	711	719	732	719	695	715	718	753	706^R	697