Current Trends in Private Car Usage and Car-Related Expenditures in the United States: An Exploratory Analysis of Younger Cohorts

Abstract

The impact of the personal automobile in the American society and its importance to the American culture has been the subject of a significant amount of research since the beginning of 20th century. This paper aims to add to that body of knowledge by analyzing the presence of the car in the American society of the 21st century, and assess if it is possible the so-called “digital age” (the overwhelming presence of digital devices – smartphones, tablets, etc. – in contemporary people’s lives) is somehow affecting the relationship between younger Americans (aged 15 through 34) and the automobile. Using a range of official sources from the United States (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Highway Administration, and the Census Bureau, among other) and other reports from relevant sources regarding drivers licensed, automobile usage, consumer expenditure, and digital media consumption this paper analyzes trends and the evolution of a number of key variables, with a focus of the evolution of these variables on the younger cohorts (15-24 and 25-34) from the years 2000 to 2010. Results indicate that automobile usage has reached a plateau that has lasted half a decade so far, and that car-related expenditures have declined since 2000. On top of that, getting a driver’s license seems to be less a priority nowadays for younger cohorts than it used to be. In the realm of digital consumption, smartphones and tablets reached high levels of market penetration, expenditures on cell phone services have increased threefold in real terms in 10 years, and data traffic on handheld devices is expected to grow by great amounts in the coming years. What the findings in automobile usage and expenditure in America, combine with the ever increasing “digitalization” of the life younger Americans will mean for the future is difficult to assess at this point: will the smartphone displace the automobile? Will automobile usage return to have high levels of growth? If not, what will that mean in terms of infrastructure needs, capacity and investment, land use, etc.? Further research will be needed to assess the true impact of these findings.