Transportation remains one of the largest financial obligations for American households, but the burden varies dramatically depending on income.
New data from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) show that the lowest-earning fifth of U.S. households devoted 30.6% of their before-tax income to transportation in 2024. By comparison, households in the highest income quintile spent 9.6% of their before-tax income on transportation.
The figures come from the 2025 Transportation Statistics Annual Report, which uses household spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey. BTS defines transportation cost burden as the share of before-tax household income spent on transportation for this income-quintile comparison.
The numbers highlight a major difference between transportation spending in dollar terms and transportation affordability. Wealthier households spent considerably more money on transportation, but transportation represented a much smaller share of their income.
Lower-income households spent substantially less in absolute dollars while surrendering a far larger portion of their available income to getting around.
That distinction is particularly important in the United States, where personal transportation remains important for commuting, shopping, appointments, and other everyday activities. For households with limited earnings, the cost of maintaining access to transportation can therefore have consequences well beyond the transportation budget itself.
Transportation Spending Reached $13,318 Per Household in 2024
American households spent an average of $13,318 on transportation in 2024, making it the second-largest household expenditure category after housing, according to BTS. Transportation spending increased 1.1% from the previous year, slightly slower than the 1.6% increase in total household expenditures.
The increase was considerably smaller than the growth recorded a year earlier. BTS reported that average household transportation expenditures had risen 7.1% in 2023. The much smaller 1.1% increase in 2024 therefore represented a significant slowdown in the pace of transportation spending growth.
The transportation category includes substantially more than gasoline. Household transportation expenditures include vehicle purchases, gasoline and other fuels, vehicle financing, insurance, maintenance and repairs, as well as public and other transportation services.
BTS data show that vehicle purchases accounted for $5,337 of average household transportation spending in 2024. Other vehicle expenses represented $4,206, while gasoline and other fuels accounted for $2,645. The remaining transportation spending came from public and other transportation services.
That breakdown illustrates why transportation costs can remain significant even when fuel prices are relatively stable. Purchasing a vehicle can represent the largest single transportation expense for a household, while insurance, financing, maintenance, repairs, and fuel create continuing costs after the initial purchase.
Transportation can also be difficult to avoid. For many American households, particularly those living in areas with limited public transportation, owning a vehicle is closely connected to the ability to reach work and essential services.
This makes transportation different from many discretionary categories that households can more easily reduce when budgets become tighter.
The national average of $13,318 therefore does not tell the entire story. The distribution of that spending across income groups reveals a much larger difference in affordability.
Lower-Income Households Face the Heaviest Transportation Burden
The clearest disparity appears when transportation spending is measured as a percentage of household income.
In 2024, households in the lowest income quintile spent an average of $5,105 on transportation. That was dramatically less than the $25,378 spent by households in the highest income quintile.
Despite that difference, the lowest-income group devoted 30.6% of its before-tax income to transportation, compared with only 9.6% for the highest-income group.
The result is a sharp reversal between spending and affordability. The highest-income households spent almost five times as many dollars on transportation as the lowest-income households, but transportation consumed less than one-third as large a share of their before-tax income.
This demonstrates why transportation affordability cannot be judged simply by looking at how much a household spends. A household with a substantially larger transportation bill may still face a smaller financial burden if its income is high enough to absorb those costs.
BTS also found that transportation cost burdens across the five income quintiles remained broadly similar in 2024 compared with 2023. All income groups spent roughly the same share of their before-tax income on transportation as they had the previous year.
The third income quintile recorded the largest change in 2024. Its transportation cost burden fell by 1.1 percentage points, following a reduction in transportation spending. BTS said all the other income quintiles spent more on transportation in 2024 than in 2023, but their transportation burdens changed by less than one percentage point.
There is an important distinction here from an earlier BTS finding. In 2023, the second-lowest income quintile saw its transportation cost burden fall to 19% from 22% in 2022.
That was a statistically significant decline and was linked to higher before-tax income and lower transportation spending, particularly lower spending on new and used vehicles. The 19% figure, therefore, should not be described as a 2024 decline.
For 2024, the more relevant finding is that transportation burdens were generally stable across income groups, with the third quintile recording the largest decline.
The difference between income groups remains substantial despite that stability. The lowest-income quintile’s $5,105 transportation bill consumed nearly one-third of before-tax income, while the highest-income quintile’s $25,378 transportation expenditure represented less than one-tenth of its income.
Vehicle Ownership and Geography Add to the Difference
Vehicle ownership is another important part of the transportation affordability equation. Earlier BTS analysis found that lower-income households were much less likely to own or lease a vehicle. In 2022, 30% of households in the lowest income quintile did not own or lease a vehicle, compared with only 3% of households in the highest income group.
Among households earning less, vehicle ownership can create a difficult financial tradeoff. A vehicle can provide essential access to employment and services, but purchasing, financing, insuring, fueling, and maintaining that vehicle can consume a large share of household resources.
BTS found that the difference can be particularly pronounced among lower-income vehicle owners. In 2022, households with income below roughly $25,000 that owned at least one vehicle spent 38% of their after-tax income on transportation, compared with 5% among households in the same income range that did not own or lease a vehicle.
Not owning a vehicle, however, does not necessarily eliminate transportation costs or transportation challenges. Households without cars may depend on public transportation, rides from other people, or paid transportation services. Those alternatives can reduce certain vehicle expenses but may also limit where and when people can travel.
Geography creates another difference. BTS reported that rural households spent an average of $14,418 on transportation in 2024, compared with $13,057 for urban households. Rural households also devoted 14.2% of their after-tax income to transportation, compared with 12.4% for urban households.
The distinction between before-tax and after-tax income is important. The 30.6% and 9.6% figures for the lowest and highest income quintiles are based on before-tax income, while the 14.2% rural and 12.4% urban figures in the 2025 annual report are based on after-tax income. They should not be directly compared as though they use the same income measure.
BTS has previously linked higher rural transportation spending to longer travel distances. Its analysis found that rural households generally traveled more vehicle and person miles per day despite making nearly the same number of daily trips as urban households. That helps explain why transportation can be more expensive in less densely populated areas.
The 2024 data put the cost of mobility into sharper perspective. Transportation spending rises considerably with household income, but transportation’s share of income moves in the opposite direction.
For households with higher earnings, spending $25,378 on transportation can represent a relatively manageable portion of the household budget. For the lowest-income households, even a $5,105 transportation bill can consume 30.6% of before-tax income.
That difference also highlights why vehicle affordability goes beyond a car’s purchase price. A vehicle that appears affordable at the dealership can generate substantial recurring expenses through financing, insurance, fuel, maintenance, and repairs.
An unexpected mechanical failure or insurance increase can therefore place significant pressure on a household already spending a large portion of its income simply to maintain mobility.
The latest BTS figures show that transportation remains a major component of household finances in the United States. Average household transportation spending reached $13,318 in 2024, but the national average masks a much more important income disparity.
The lowest-income fifth spent $5,105 on transportation and devoted 30.6% of before-tax income to getting around. The highest-income fifth spent $25,378, yet transportation represented only 9.6% of before-tax income.
The numbers show that transportation affordability is not simply a question of how much households spend. It is also a question of how much income they have available to absorb those costs. For wealthier households, substantially higher transportation spending can represent a relatively modest budgetary burden.
For the lowest-income households, maintaining reliable access to transportation can consume nearly one-third of before-tax income.
