Most Popular Cars in America by State based on 30M+ DMV records
Posted by Sensitive_Tutor5531@reddit | cars | View on Reddit | 127 comments
Interesting how regional brand loyalty still is , Ford barely exists on the West Coast, Toyota is invisible in the Deep South. New Jersey is the only state in the country where Honda is the #1 brand.
AssistantFar8275@reddit
F-150 being the most popular is still the dumbest part about the US when I know for certain most of them arent being used for work
I still think trucks are cool, but its just dumb
DodgerBlueRobert1@reddit
Why must the F-150 be used for work?
AssistantFar8275@reddit
Because that was the whole original point of pickup trucks to begin with? I'll add Chevy Silverado too. Fuck all big pickup trucks and their stupid lights right in my eyes.
Now theyre just "look at me and mah big truck" status symbols that never see an ounce of dirt in their bed
DodgerBlueRobert1@reddit
Original point, sure, many decades ago when they were quite agricultural and not comfortable for normal daily use. That changed many years ago though, and are now considered a great way for families and individuals who need both space/comfort and utility in the same vehicle. Not sure why that's so hard to understand. Is this any different from this?. Besides being 30 years apart, I see no difference.
Regarding headlights, it's much more common that cars that are blinding me and not necessarily big pickup trucks...unless they're lifted or improperly aimed. The Civic, Accord, CR-V, Model 3, and Model Y are the worst offenders by far in my opinion. They're horribly designed and I come across them almost every day.
Now? When did it change? Why must truck owners put dirt in their bed? Who ever said that was a rule? Are S-Classes, G-Wagons, Range Rovers, 911's, etc. not just status symbols? I just don't understand why you're so upset about trucks even existing. What about midsize trucks? What about fullsize SUV's?
AssistantFar8275@reddit
"Is this any different from this?. Besides being 30 years apart, I see no difference."
Are you actually blind? Yes, absolutely they are different. New trucks have smaller beds and larger cabs, larger fronts, taller, and their headlights are all perfectly eye level with everyone else on the road. Their front visibility is much worse. Big SUVs are just as bad, like chevy suburban's or escalades
https://www.axios.com/2023/01/23/pickup-trucks-f150-size-weight-safety
The 1996 chevy truck you posted has a height about 70-74 inches. The current silverado height is about 75-78 inches tall. Tell me with a straight face these two are the same
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/17vjhrx/same_make_model_and_colour_30_years_apart/
ezagreb@reddit
Shouldn’t Subaru be the most popular car in Vermont?
Sensitive_Tutor5531@reddit (OP)
Agree
Kurt805@reddit
New Jersey being the only state with taste is baffling.
Sensitive_Tutor5531@reddit (OP)
Meanwhile 23 states independently decided the F-150 is a personality trait
memymomeddit@reddit
I wonder how much of that is skewed by fleet sales
Sensitive_Tutor5531@reddit (OP)
a lot !
DetroitLionsEh@reddit
Didn’t even make it down a few comments without the “trucks are bad” circle jerk
RKRagan@reddit
How is that a circle jerk?
DetroitLionsEh@reddit
I’m sure you’ll figure it out
RKRagan@reddit
If you want to feel persecuted I guess.
DetroitLionsEh@reddit
You ok dude?
I don’t even drive a truck. Was persecuted the best come back you could think of?
RKRagan@reddit
Im talking to a bot
DetroitLionsEh@reddit
Sure bud
Storm_Chaser06@reddit
To be fair half of those states are just farmland, so it’s understandable.
NCSUGrad2012@reddit
A ton of that is probably company trucks though. I know my company has a bunch
SZ1095@reddit
All jokes aside as a New Yorker living across the river New Jersey is one of the wealthiest and most educated states in the country
MajesticBread9147@reddit
New Jersey is effectively tied with Massachusetts for median household income.
SZ1095@reddit
Yes I believe it! I lived in Massachusetts for a bit and loved it there
Sensitive_Tutor5531@reddit (OP)
NJ has some of the highest insurance rates in the country. CR-V is literally the cheapest SUV to insure in the US
Mercurydriver@reddit
And NJ has high insurance rates because everyone drives like assholes. The Garden State Parkway is basically a free for all and reckless driving is tolerated/accepted in this state.
Source: I live in NJ
xicer@reddit
I agree completely but I kinda respect it more for it.
Source: transplant from PA
ChairmanMatt@reddit
Consistently selfish and predictably pragmatic assholes > chaotic stupid ala Virginia and Maryland
Pretty sure NJ has a ton of insurance fraud, contributing to the higher rates
Sensitive_Tutor5531@reddit (OP)
Jersey slide brother
manviret@reddit
CR-V is a tasteful vehicle??
BrownGhost10@reddit
Cr-v is superior to rav4, I said what I said.
_The_Real_Sans_@reddit
This like that meme that goes "these women having a mid off"
Astramael@reddit
Not according to people who buy cars, based on this data.
BrownGhost10@reddit
Yes, the people are wrong.
Astramael@reddit
I must be wrong too. If I had to buy one of those narcoleptic appliances for some reason, which fortunately I don’t, it’s going to be RAV4 every single time.
BrownGhost10@reddit
First time for everything.
Astramael@reddit
I would do it if you paid me. It would require an unreasonable amount of money, but everybody has a price.
DarrenfromKramerica@reddit
Two of the most boring vehicles on the road
BrownGhost10@reddit
We talkin about crossovers son, not Miatas.
Snazzy21@reddit
Well they have to be good at something, because they're shit at designing infrastructure. Fucking jug handles take up more room and replace an straight forward turn with a fuck ton of wasted apace and an oblique angle merge
Mercurydriver@reddit
I wouldn’t exactly say that. Remember, the number one selling car in NJ is the Honda CRV, a mundane, uninteresting crossover with no fun aspects whatsoever.
I will say as a NJ resident myself, I can see the appeal though. It’s relatively affordable, gets decent gas mileage, and just…works.
avoidhugeships@reddit
It's a Honda CRV. Not exactly a dream car.
kyonkun_denwa@reddit
New Jersey must have a lot of shops that specialize in rebuilds for automatic transmissions made of glass.
Bld556@reddit
Looks like the Rav4 is the official vehicle of choice for the penny pincher/budget minded crowd in the most expensive states.
MajesticBread9147@reddit
Is Rav4 really "budget minded"? You pay a premium for an SUV vs sedan in MSRP and gas. Not to mention that Korean cars are consistently cheaper than Toyota and Honda.
Sensitive_Tutor5531@reddit (OP)
Toyota has loong history of reliability, so they can set premium (it is not premium)
Napoleon_Boneherpart@reddit
It isn't. There are people, to this day, three years out of pandemic supply shortages, still paying ADMs on Toyota. Actuarial accountants really should freaking know that paying the Toyota premium up front is the equivalent of buying reinsurance for your auto policy; shadowboxing a reliability problem that hasn't happened yet.
NotSoBadBrad@reddit
I love "shadowboxing a problem that hasn't happened yet" going to steal that lol
catchthemagicdragon@reddit
Because sedans are only marginally more useful than a motorcycle lol
MajesticBread9147@reddit
In what way? I have literally never had a problem with my coupe and sedans are bigger.
catchthemagicdragon@reddit
I’m just being a hatchback nerd. Having an above average amount of storage space for whenever but it not being a truck is nice. I just switched from Fit to Odyssey while being surgically incapable of having children. When I think sedan I think Civic or Corolla, and I’ll be damned before settling for those.
kyonkun_denwa@reddit
Whenever they ask "what car do you drive" over on r/accounting, without fail the top answer is always "RAV4". And that crowd is probably super in tune with personal finance.
It's the perfect car for people who need a car but don't give a shit about their car
RobertM525@reddit
It might be more accurate to say that they are for people who need a car but don't give a shit about driving. It's the consummate transportation appliance at this point. (And yes, I say that as a Toyota Camry owner.)
wangchunge@reddit
Days of Camry and before that Corona are long gone I drove a 1990 Corona with 200000km for a day 5 years ago..so small, lite steering, easy to drive, a real suprise!! Loved the 3dr Rav4.....dont need 5dr.
RKRagan@reddit
Not that they don't give a shit about their car, they just did some research and know its a good car for the money and they aren't looking for a cool car.
gristlestick@reddit
Judging by the number of damaged body panels and extensive use of structural duct tape, I would have guessed it was an Altima?!
strongmanass@reddit
Or just people who don't care about cars and want something reliable. I couldn't tell you offhand what model my laptop is. I had a list of specs and features I wanted and bought one at a certain price point that met those criteria. Beyond that I don't care. A lot of people are the same with cars.
kyonkun_denwa@reddit
It kind of baffles me that people don't check brand reputation for either laptops or cars.
Back in the day, HP consumer laptops had a terrible reputation for overheating and just generally being kind of flimsy, but I met so many people who were just like shocked_pikachu.jpg when their HP broke. I was like "why didn't you buy a Thinkpad?" but that never occurred to them. Similarly, we're all bemused when someone buys a PHEV Pacifica to "save on gas" and then get burnt by Stellantis things maybe a year after buying.
alwaysrecession@reddit
How do you know RAV4 is the most popular vehicle in those states? The site only states which brand is the most popular?
Bld556@reddit
The website also shows the most popular model from the most popular vehicle brand in each state.
fiestapotatoess@reddit
Can confirm haha
Bld556@reddit
Outstanding! 😁 ✊🏾
Astramael@reddit
I don’t actually believe that Subaru isn’t #1 in Vermont or Colorado. I disregard the evidence of the internet! Subaru #1!
DFAtomcat@reddit
There are absolutely more F150s in Colorado than Subarus
100gamer5@reddit
I think Colorado springs is doing some heavy lifting for the f150.
DFAtomcat@reddit
Everywhere in the state besides Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins is doing that lifting, not to mention the absurd number of F150s that already exist in those towns too.
LakeEffect_CarHunter@reddit
It's same here in Western NY lol. Toyotas are everywhere too though
Sensitive_Tutor5531@reddit (OP)
Give it time, the outback army is growing
Then_Entertainment97@reddit
It'm assuming most of these come from pickups cause murica
Taco trucks not having Washington on lock makes me 😭
Ada_Maires@reddit
The Ford/Toyota regional split is probably the least surprising part of this map.
backberef@reddit
People talk like buyers always cross-shop the whole market rationally, but maps like this say habit and geography still do a lot of the work.
professorjade@reddit
What id give to never see a Silverado ever again…..
dayvieee@reddit
I’m not sure if this is correct, but how does CA only have 2 mil rav4 registered compared to FL 8 mil rav4?
hi_im_bored13@reddit
I'm not sure I would call a 10% market share vs. 12% barely existing, the margins for most of the country are fairly slim in general
Likewise toyota has like 10%+ share in near every state ford leads lol
Specialist-Garbage94@reddit
Every other vehicle in Cali is an F150. I live in Oregon and there’s simply no way it’s not Subaru that leads us lol
randomcanyon@reddit
Rural California, Subaru common as dirt. Ford F150 common, Big Ram trucks also common. A couple of Tesla and one of those Tesla Trucks.
Down in the Bay Area, BMW, Tesla are very common.
ArcticBP@reddit
The amount of times someone posts something in this sub and comes to a conclusion not even remotely backed up by the link they posted is nuts…
Training-Expert5598@reddit
That's this site in general.
Morbidly_Off_Piste@reddit
And just imagine how crazy it gets when it comes to politics or international politics.
GodsFavoriteDegen@reddit
Look man, the data doesn't lie.
q0vneob@reddit
They didn't even get the colors right on the header list....
bschmidt25@reddit
I'm in AZ and I'm surprised it's not the F150 here. Tons of them, especially Raptors. Maybe I don't notice the RAV4 because they're so anonymous.
Sensitive_Tutor5531@reddit (OP)
yeah you are right, but 2% across millions of registrations is still tens of thousands of cars per state. Still interesting that those small differences are consistent enough to form regional patterns though
alwayz@reddit
There are Subaru states and there are Nissan states. It says something.
Soggy-Car-4548@reddit
This data is suspect, at best. Florida has the most registered vehicles by nearly 3 million (8.2M vs Texas 5.3M)? What does accident rate mean? Slop.
RKRagan@reddit
You must not know how to read the data, there are 23M people in Florida. Of course we have more than 8.2M cars total.
Soggy-Car-4548@reddit
I know how to read data. More importantly, I recognize when data doesn’t hold up to the slightest scrutiny.
US Department of Energy data for 2024 puts the number of gas vehicles registered in Florida at 16.1M. Further, it shows California at 31.2M and Texas at 21.6M. The Vinitel data, even proportionally, is way off the mark.
US Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center Vehicle Registration Counts by State Source: https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicle-registration
MajesticBread9147@reddit
Florida has very low regulations for car ownership.
A lot of people, especially military members register their cars in Florida even when they don't live there.
biggsteve81@reddit
It appears the registered vehicles is how many of that number one brand were registered in the state (8.2 million Toyotas in Florida vs 5.3 million F150s in Texas). Because there are over 30 million registered cars in California, not 2.8 million.
mrnikkoli@reddit
I dislike these because it makes more sense to me to look at the parent company instead of individual brands. Like counting Chevy but not GMC, Buick, and Cadillac is weird to me when GM is getting all of those sales at the end of the day. I get that this is more important for American brands because they rely on badging more than the non-American brands in the US, but also this data is looking at the US specifically so I feel like it's a relevant complaint.
Luis0224@reddit
Texas: f150s account for 14.8% of vehicles on the road but also account for 40% of all accidents.
This is the least surprising stat I’ve seen regarding this state. Pickup drivers here will ride your bumper at 80mph like they’re drafting in formula 1 and then lose their shit when they have an accident and they’re listed as the at fault driver.
Astramael@reddit
It’s absolutely constant. I have no idea why pickup truck drivers feel compelled to follow way too close at all times. My car stops 40 feet shorter than their truck, if I need to panic stop they don’t have a chance. It’s an accident every time, and they’re at fault.
Luis0224@reddit
They think their pickup is going to intimidate people into letting them pass lol
I have dash cams for both the front and rear and I have a decal that says “my lawyer loves tailgaters”. It’s funny watching them get a close as possible and then watching them overtake me angry as fuck (I drive on the right lane, so the other lanes are there for them).
Like: no, I’m not gonna speed up or move over to let you pass. Eat dick, tailgaters
Astramael@reddit
I guess this makes sense. But I’m a pretty tight adherent to “left to pass then get back over” philosophy. So I’m going to get over when the pass is done regardless of what the truck is doing.
Also, they even do it when I’m in the right lane! I can’t get over any further!
SargentoPepper@reddit
As someone who’s from another state that has driven through Texas many times, I can attest to this. I’ve never seen a hwy driver be so careless than this dude in a brand new Tundra.
ghost6007@reddit
Unless you are talking about this year's new F1 cars, even F1 drivers don't tailgate more than a couple of laps/miles since it's (was) bad for down force, tires and engine.
Pickup drivers in Texas however are a different kind of dumb.
AssistantFar8275@reddit
Further confirming my hatred for trucks, especially lifted ones
Luis0224@reddit
Texas doesn’t discriminate. Lifted trucks, stock truck, lowered trucks, doesn’t matter. They all drive like assholes lmao
vkick@reddit
Living in the Bay Area, I would have thought it was Tesla. 😆
orangebakery@reddit
God damn it looks like getting f150 is a life goal for the folks in flyover states.
Soggy_Head_4889@reddit
The fact that anyone would buy a Silverado is mind baffling.
uh60chief@reddit
No MOPAR!
momentbruh@reddit
Jeeps right there buddy
q0vneob@reddit
Kind of wild when you think about what what a broad selection of car Chrysler offers.
Defreshs10@reddit
What’s the data when you remove businesses who buy fleet F150’s?
uncleawesome@reddit
What if trucks were excluded?
Drunken_Hamster@reddit
Yeah, this. At the very least, combine sister brands like Chevy and GMC, and sister chassis stuff like the Silverado and suburban.
RKRagan@reddit
Why? If that's the case you'll have to combine many Crossovers with other brands and other cars. The Suburban isn't a clone of the Silverado like it used to be. They have IRS, all different styling, features.
Drunken_Hamster@reddit
Hmm. Well then I rescind that part of the suggestion, but still keep the sister brand part.
Either way, I'm with uncle awesome about excluding trucks and SUVs from the metrics.
RKRagan@reddit
Why? That is arbitrary. It ignore a very large portion of the market. Cars in the traditional sense are dead. A few from Korea, the Mustang, Vette, new Charger, Camry/Accord and the Germans. That's all there is in the mainstream market.
memymomeddit@reddit
Holy crap is it ever annoying that they transposed the colors for Toyota and Chevy between the heading and the map
Specialist-Garbage94@reddit
I call BS on these stats lol
Brandon3541@reddit
Because they are BS.
I already see one major flaw in the data from 5 seconds of looking:
It goes by registration, and stated with lax registration / check-up laws like Florida will have rental companies, business, and more intentionally register there to get around more burdensome requirements.
kryx@reddit
I'm surprised Jeep is so high in so many states.
RKRagan@reddit
Wranglers and Cherokees still sell well with white moms.
RKRagan@reddit
Southerners love F-150's while Yankees like Chevy. Interesting. It makes sense that 1/10 cars in Florida are RAV4s. I count them all the time. So many of them...
farrrtttttrrrrrrrrtr@reddit
Model Y has outsold any Toyota in California for a few years now.
gumol@reddit
however, Toyota sells way more models than Tesla, which is down to 3 models.
farrrtttttrrrrrrrrtr@reddit
Who cares? This is about what are the most popular models.
Sensitive_Tutor5531@reddit (OP)
Yeah probably right for new sales, Tesla is killing it in recent sales but Toyota has 20 years of cars still on the road that wont die
vegt121@reddit
Never thought BMW would rank #2 in California
LoveWashingDishes@reddit
There's a lot of Russians, Armenians and other Soviet bloc people in SoCal. FOB's won't drive anything other than white/black BMW's and Benz.
phxbimmer@reddit
I believe it, based on how BMW’s I see on the road. I’ve also never had any trouble finding work as a BMW technician in California, there’s a huge demand for it. Great BMW scene here in terms of car shows and track days too.
itsme92@reddit
Yeah that’s wild and I live here
BadThingsBro@reddit
Idk if it’s just me,
But why are the colors switch on the chart for chevy and Toyota. Took me a few seconds.
Hnry_Dvd_Thr_Awy@reddit
I wish they’d combine the Sierra and the Silverado for these metrics.
No_Cherry_1423@reddit
Its not exactly novel or secret that Ford is individually the most popular American brand (#2 behind Toyota) but GM has more combined sales between all its brands. It’s just a different approach to brands.
samarijackfan@reddit
Any chart that is not per capita is not very useful. Good to know that F-150 is the most popular in wyoming but CA has 32,000,000+ vehicles. More than the chart is based on.