U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Vehicle Technologies Program

Fact #181: September 4, 2001
Carpooling Is Down Again in 2000

The share of workers who carpool to work has dropped from nearly 20% in 1980 to 11% in 2000, according to data from the 2000 Census. From 1980 to 1990, the share of carpoolers declined by 6.3 percentage points. A smaller decline was reported for the next decade (2.2 percentage points).

graph showing share of workers carpooling

Supporting Information

Share of Workers Who Carpool
Year Share of Workers
1980 19.7%
1990 13.4%
2000 11.2%

Sources: 2000 data: U.S. Bureau of the Census, American Fact Finder, Census 2000 Supplemental Survey, Table P047, August 2001.
1980 and 1990 data: Provided by the Journey-to-Work Migration Statistics Branch, Population Division, U.S. Bureau of the Census.

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