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Fact #259: March 17, 2003
Household Travel by Gender

According to the 2001 National Household Travel Survey, men traveled 16% more miles than women in 2001. A person-mile is defined as the movement of one person for one mile. Therefore, if two people travel together going one mile, it would count as two person-miles. The trend is that women generally take more trips than men, but they travel fewer total miles than men.

Person-Miles of Travel by Gender, 1990–2001
Graph: Person-Miles of Travel by Gender, 1990-2001

Supporting Information

Person-Miles of Travel by Gender (millions)
Gender 1990 1995 2001
Male 1,473,015 1,883,237 2,163,350
Female 1,356,595 1,527,884 1,862,808

Sources:
U.S. Department of Transportation, 2001 National Household Travel Survey.
U.S. Department of Transportation, 1995 NPTS Databook, October 2001, pp. 4–6, 4–7.

 

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