Data Source: California Air Resources Board, California Greenhouse Gas Inventory - by Sector and Activity; California Department of Transportation; California Department of Finance.
Analysis by CEC Economics
Highlights
- Total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in California rose by 0.4% (or 1.4 billion miles) between 2022 and 2023, to 316.6 billion miles. Meanwhile, VMT per person fell slightly (-0.1%) during the same period to 8,032 miles per person as population began to rebound post-pandemic. The discrepancy may be due to the fact that VMT in rural areas was lower in 2023 than in 2022. On the other hand, VMT per vehicle rose faster than VMT in percentage terms due to having fewer vehicles registered in 2023 than in 2022, rising 0.3% to 10,160 miles per vehicle in 2023.
- GHG emissions from surface transportation in California fell by 4.1% (-5.3 MMTCO2e) from 2022 to 2023, while the GHG emissions from surface transportation per capita decreased by 4.5% during the same period. Relative to 2000, VMT per capita was 11.4% lower while total VMT was 3.3% higher in 2023. Meanwhile, total GHG emissions from surface transportation (-24.3%) and emissions per capita (-35.3%) were considerably lower in 2023 than in 2000.
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