Between high gas prices, rising inflation and the coronavirus pandemic, America’s driving habits are changing. Our team of analysts found that gasoline usage has dropped 4% in the last six months. And while that might not immediately seem like a lot, as you’ll see in this report, the decline in fuel usage quickly adds up.
Key findings:
- Gas usage has declined by as much as 19% in some states since 2021
- Gas usage has declined fastest in Vermont, Minnesota and New Hampshire
- Montana, Wyoming and Rhode Island are the most gas guzzling states
- Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts use the least gas
Drivers are now using 10,500,000 fewer gallons of gas a day than they were in 2021. That’s enough fuel to drive around the Earth 11,000 times. Some states, though, are really cutting back when it comes to fuel use. 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.
| 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.
| 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.
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