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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

United States Fast Facts

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

United States Fast Facts

Data are for 2010 unless otherwise noted.

Transportation System Extent

All public roads: 4.07 million miles
Interstate: 46,900 miles
Road bridges: 604,493
Class I railroad trackage: 161,926 miles
Inland waterways: 29,620 miles
Public use airports: 5,175

Vehicles and Conveyances

Automobiles registered: 130.9 million
Trucks registered: 110.3 million
Buses registered: 0.8 million
Motorcycles registered: 8.2 million
Rail transit systems: 25 commuter rail, 15 heavy rail (subway), 28 light rail

Recreational boats registered: 12.4 million

Geographic

Land area: 3.5 million square miles
Percent of land area owned by federal government: 28.81
Persons per square mile: 87.4
Highest point: Mount McKinley, AK (20,320 ft.)
Lowest point: Death Valley, CA (–282 ft.)

Government Subdivisions

County governments: 3,0331
Municipal governments: 19,4921
Town governments: 16,5191
Congressional districts: 435

Demographic

Population: 308.7 million
Percent urban population: 82.0

Socioeconomic

Gross domestic product: $13.1 trillion in chained (2005) dollars ($14.5 trillion in current dollars)
Civilian labor force: 153.9 million
Median household income: $50,046

Commuting (percent of workers)

Car, truck, or van—drove alone: 76.6
Car, truck, or van—carpooled: 9.7
Public transportation: 4.9
Taxicab, motorcycle, bicycled or other means: 1.7
Worked at home: 4.3
Walked: 2.8

12007

Sources

Transportation System Extent
All public roads, Interstate: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics 2010 (Washington, DC: 2011), table HM-20; available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm as of June 2012.
Road bridges: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Bridge Technology, National Bridge Inventory: Highway Bridge by Owner (Washington, DC: 2010 ), available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/britab.cfm as of June 2012.
Class I railroad trackage: Association of American Railroads, Class I Railroad Statistics (Washington, DC: 2012) available at http://www.aar.org/StatisticsAndPublications.aspx as of June 2012.
Inland waterways: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Navigation Data Center, National Waterway Network, personal communication, March 2012.
Public use airports: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Administrators Fact Book (Washington, DC: March 2011), p.16, available at http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/aba/admin_factbook/ as of June 2012.

Vehicles and Conveyances
Automobiles, light trucks, heavy trucks, buses, motorcycles: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics 2010 (Washington, DC: 2011), table MV-1, available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm as of June 2012.
Rail transit systems: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Agency, National Transit Database 2010 (Washington, DC: 2011), table 21, available at http://www.ntdprogram.gov/ntdprogram/data.htm as of June 2012.
Recreational boats: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Boating Statistics 2010 (Washington, DC: 2011), table 35, available at http://www.uscgboating.org/statistics/accident_statistics.aspx as of June 2012.

Geographic
Land area, persons per square mile: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, USA QuickFacts (Washington, DC: 2012), available at http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html as of June 2012.

Percent of federal land : U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2007 (Washington, DC: 2011), available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ as of June 2012.

Highest and lowest point: Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook (Washington, DC: 2012), available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html as of June 2012.
Government Subdivisions

Governments: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 2007 Census of Governments (Washington, DC: 2009), available at http://www.census.gov/govs/cog/ as of June 2012.

Districts: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Apportionment Results (Washington, DC: 2011), available at http://www.census.gov/population/apportionment/data/ as of June 2012.

Demographic
Population: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, USA QuickFacts (Washington, DC: 2012), available at http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html as of June 2012.

Percent urban population: Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook (Washington, DC: 2012), available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html as of June 2012.

Socioeconomic
Gross domestic product: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Income and Product Account Tables, available at http://www.bea.gov/iTable/index_nipa.cfm as of June 2012.
Civilian labor force: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, available at http://www.bls.gov/cps as of June 2012.
Median household income: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 American Community Survey, available at http://factfinder.census.gov as of June 2012.

Commuting
U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 American Community Survey, available at http://factfinder.census.gov as of June 2012.