# America's most and least car-oriented cities

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2024-06-15

50-largest-us-cities, built-form, car-cities, car-oriented, mobility, mobility-choices, new-york, population-density, raleigh, ride-hailing, urbanism, vehicle-miles-traveled, vehicles

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My partner Kieran sent me [this chart](https://www.axios.com/2024/06/13/chart-americas-driving-capitals) this morning:

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/e1b19cf6200d4c10136df6a102f4b918.png)

It is a summary of the average weekday miles traveled by adults in private vehicles, including taxis and ride-hailing vehicles, for the 50 largest metro areas in the US (data is from the fall of 2023). At the top of the list with the _most_ miles traveled is Raleigh, and at the bottom of the list with the _fewest_ miles traveled is, not surprisingly, New York.

The other cities on the bottom of this list probably won't surprise you either. But it's a good reminder of how built form determines our mobility choices. If you look up which US cities have the highest population densities and the most compact built forms, I think you'll generally find that it mirrors what you're seeing here.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/americas-most-and-least-car-oriented-cities)*