Between high gas prices, steady inflation and the continued impact of the coronavirus pandemic, America’s driving habits are changing. Our team of analysts found that 66% of people changed their driving habits to spend less on fuel. We also found that gasoline consumption was down 4% in the first part of 2022.

Key findings:

  • 48% of people canceled trips because of gas prices
  • Gas usage has declined by as much as 19% in some states
  • Montana, Wyoming and Rhode Island are the most gas guzzling states
  • Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts use the least gas

How Gas Prices Have Changed Driving Behavior

Whether it’s canceling trips, carpooling or using public transit, high gas prices have fueled significant changes in people’s driving habits. Nationwide 48% of people canceled trips, 33% of drivers started carpooling or combining trips and 12% of people are increasingly relying on public transit.

These changes in driving habits, however, vary significantly from state to state. In Mississippi, 61% of drivers decided to cancel trips compared to 36% in Rhode Island. Almost half of Oregon's drivers decided to carpool or combine trips to save money. And nearly 20% of people in both Washington and Hawaii switched to public transportation to get around.

Change in Driving Habits in Each State
State Canceled trips Combined trips or carpooled Used public transit Made no changes
Alabama 46% 34% 3% 36%
Alaska 48% 44% 13% 32%
Arizona 54% 37% 10% 30%
Arkansas 60% 31% 7% 28%
California 58% 36% 16% 27%
Colorado 44% 36% 16% 36%
Connecticut 43% 32% 9% 38%
Delaware 44% 39% 10% 34%
Florida 49% 34% 11% 33%
Georgia 51% 33% 11% 32%
Hawaii 43% 38% 17% 31%
Idaho 53% 43% 14% 27%
Illinois 42% 33% 18% 38%
Indiana 54% 38% 10% 30%
Iowa 46% 32% 12% 36%
Kansas 51% 35% 9% 32%
Kentucky 55% 38% 7% 27%
Louisiana 55% 27% 7% 33%
Maine 49% 37% 8% 34%
Maryland 43% 29% 11% 42%
Massachusetts 37% 25% 14% 44%
Michigan 50% 36% 10% 33%
Minnesota 39% 29% 9% 44%
Mississippi 61% 30% 15% 25%
Missouri 53% 31% 10% 35%
Montana 51% 33% 10% 35%
Nebraska 48% 31% 8% 35%
Nevada 56% 38% 9% 24%
New Hampshire 43% 33% 6% 41%
New Jersey 42% 22% 14% 41%
New Mexico 56% 32% 13% 28%
New York 37% 28% 13% 40%
North Carolina 49% 38% 9% 35%
North Dakota 48% 32% 9% 35%
Ohio 46% 39% 12% 35%
Oklahoma 55% 38% 5% 30%
Oregon 52% 46% 15% 26%
Pennsylvania 44% 33% 10% 35%
Rhode Island 36% 31% 6% 42%
South Carolina 46% 34% 11% 36%
South Dakota 39% 27% 6% 43%
Tennessee 51% 34% 8% 32%
Texas 51% 27% 12% 34%
Utah 53% 44% 16% 26%
Vermont 40% 35% 12% 39%
Virginia 40% 28% 8% 45%
Washington 47% 38% 17% 32%
West Virginia 50% 36% 9% 29%
Wisconsin 45% 32% 9% 39%
Wyoming 49% 39% 8% 29%
United States 48% 33% 12% 34%

Gasoline consumption by state

The change in driving habits has led to a decrease in fuel consumption. Drivers are now using 10,500,000 fewer gallons of gas daily than in 2021. That’s enough fuel to drive around the Earth 11,000 times.

Some states, though, are really gasoline demand has fallen by nearly 20% in Vermont and Minnesota and by nearly 10% in 12 other states. South Dakota is the only state using significantly more gas.

Gasoline usage by state
State Daily gallons - October 2021 Daily gallons - currently % change
Alabama 6,824,000 6,994,000 3%
Alaska 609,000 570,000 -6%
Arizona 8,143,000 7,963,000 -2%
Arkansas 3,983,000 3,464,000 -13%
California 33,266,000 32,594,000 -2%
Colorado 6,342,000 6,040,000 -5%
Connecticut 3,877,000 3,497,000 -10%
Delaware 1,433,000 1,378,000 -4%
Florida 20,805,000 22,122,000 6%
Georgia 13,874,000 13,779,000 -1%
Hawaii 1,260,000 1,234,000 -2%
Idaho 2,113,000 2,097,000 -1%
Illinois 10,792,000 10,870,000 1%
Indiana 8,279,000 8,078,000 -2%
Iowa 3,571,000 3,306,000 -7%
Kansas 4,426,000 4,175,000 -6%
Kentucky 5,502,000 5,659,000 3%
Louisiana 7,235,000 7,090,000 -2%
Maine 1,845,000 1,640,000 -11%
Maryland 5,042,000 4,976,000 -1%
Massachusetts 6,085,000 5,746,000 -6%
Michigan 11,954,000 11,169,000 -7%
Minnesota 6,183,000 5,267,000 -15%
Mississippi 3,914,000 3,930,000 0%
Missouri 8,204,000 7,782,000 -5%
Montana 2,060,000 1,911 -7%
Nebraska 2,259,000 2,156 -5%
Nevada 3,044,000 3,016 -1%
New Hampshire 1,534,000 1,329,000 -13%
New Jersey 9,565,000 9,152,000 -4%
New Mexico 2,633,000 2,658,000 1%
New York 14,453,000 13,464,000 -7%
North Carolina 12,435,000 11,782,000 -5%
North Dakota 968,000 1,278,000 32%
Ohio 13,041,000 12,575,000 -4%
Oklahoma 5,537,000 5,389,000 -3%
Oregon 4,099,000 3,741,000 -9%
Pennsylvania 9,389,000 8,535,000 -9%
Rhode Island 1,594,000 1,479,000 -7%
South Carolina 6,906,000 6,619,000 -4%
South Dakota 1,236,000 1,169,000 -5%
Tennessee 8,958,000 9,139,000 2%
Texas 39,991,000 39,646,000 -1%
Utah 3,893,000 3,748,000 -4%
Vermont 765,000 620,000 -19%
Virginia 8,773,000 7,902.900 -4%
Washington 7,882,000 6,740,500 -5%
West Virginia 1,874,000 1,600,200 -6%
Wisconsin 6,399,000 6,038,500 -6%
Wyoming 973,000 842,600 -11%

Despite the change in fuel usage, drivers are still burning through gas. More than 62 billion gallons of gas has been pumped into cars in the last six months. To find which state uses the most gas, our analysts compared both the number of gallons used per person and the number of gallons used per driver in each state.

We found that Montana, Rhode Island and Wyoming use the most gas, while Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts use the least. Overall, less populated but geographically larger states tended to use the most gasoline per capita.

Most gas guzzling states
Rank State Gallons per driver Gallons per person Total gallons used
1 Montana 411 314 340,106,000
2 Wyoming 363 269 154,924,000
3 Rhode Island 384 256 281,032,000
4 Louisiana 376 276 1,284,822,001
5 Kansas 380 259 761,603,000
6 Texas 398 241 7,035,088,001
7 Oklahoma 375 241 955,302,001
8 Mississippi 348 237 702,016,000
9 North Dakota 340 235 183,465,000
10 Alabama 303 244 1,224,483,001
11 Tennessee 332 234 1,619,739,000
12 South Dakota 324 241 213,382,001
13 Delaware 295 247 244,750,001
14 Kentucky 337 217 979,050,001
15 Arkansas 311 222 669,147,000
16 Maine 296 227 309,824,001
17 Missouri 329 228 1,402,910,001
18 Utah 318 209 682,791,000
19 Georgia 327 230 2,459,062,001
20 South Carolina 304 232 1,187,034,000
21 Indiana 320 214 1,450,415,001
22 New Mexico 313 218 461,825,000
23 Michigan 296 206 2,080,715,000
24 Nebraska 277 203 398,273,001
25 North Carolina 281 206 2,147,760,001
26 Idaho 290 203 373,285,000
27 Ohio 282 193 2,281,609,001
28 Iowa 275 195 623,143,001
29 West Virginia 273 168 300,791,000
30 New Jersey 266 179 1,658,645,000
31 Arizona 253 201 1,439,055,001
32 New Hampshire 242 187 257,087,000
33 Colorado 255 190 1,095,413,000
34 Vermont 262 188 120,845,000
35 Wisconsin 261 191 1,125,594,000
36 Minnesota 258 185 1,056,516,000
37 Florida 240 175 3,773,121,000
38 Nevada 266 176 547,383,000
39 Connecticut 266 185 666,715,000
40 Virginia 243 166 1,435,152,000
41 Oregon 235 163 692,601,000
42 Hawaii 240 152 221,297,000
43 Illinois 237 152 1,948,237,000
44 Alaska 213 151 110,617,000
45 Washington 213 160 1,236,247,000
46 Maryland 198 143 882,633,000
47 California 218 149 5,876,671,000
48 Pennsylvania 181 124 1,614,604,000
49 New York 205 124 2,503,319,000
50 Massachusetts 215 151 1,060,447,000
Gallons used between October 2021 and March 2022

Methodology

QuoteWizard analyzed Federal Highway Administration and United States Energy Information Administration data to compare motor-fuel use with licensed drivers and population in each state from 2019 to 2022. We took the total gallons of gas used in each state and divided that figure by the total number of licensed drivers and people in each state.

Final rankings are a composite score based on total gallons of gas per licensed driver and gallons of gas per person in each state in 2021 and 2022. States with the highest gallons per capita and driver are considered to be the most gas-guzzling states.

To determine changes in driving habits in each state, QuoteWizard used data from the United States Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.

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