Vehicle Miles Driven Increased 2.0% year-over-year

by Calculated Risk on 11/23/2025 09:28:00 AM

This is something I check occasionally.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) reported:

Travel on all roads and streets changed by +2.0% (+5.4 billion vehicle miles) for September 2025 as compared with September 2024. Travel for the month is estimated to be 278.3 billion vehicle miles.

The seasonally adjusted vehicle miles traveled for September 2025 is 277.1 billion miles, a +1.9% ( 5.0 billion vehicle miles) change over September 2024. It also represents a 0.2% change (0.6 billion vehicle miles) compared with August 2025.

Cumulative Travel for 2025 changed by +1.0% (+25.1 billion vehicle miles). The cumulative estimate for the year is 2,492.0 billion vehicle miles of travel.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the monthly total vehicle miles driven, seasonally adjusted.

Miles driven declined sharply in March 2020 and really collapsed in April 2020.  

Miles driven are now at pre-pandemic levels.