Vehicle Miles Traveled per Capita
About the measures
Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) measures the amount of travel for all vehicles in a geographic area over time. Annual VMT per capita, or the number of VMT per person, provides another perspective on travel patterns and how much people travel in a year.
Recent trends
MnDOT has a target to reduce vehicle miles traveled per capita to 9,195 by 2040. VMT per capita was 9,937 in 2022. This is still below pre-pandemic numbers and near steady from 2021.
Where we want to go
VMT per capita is a key measure to understand travel behavior and impacts on the environment at a state level, and whether MnDOT strategic changes are impacting behavior year over year. High per capita VMT suggests people do not have effective transportation options to get to destinations. It also suggests that people drive farther to get to the places they need to go (e.g., work, grocery stores, amenities). Reducing VMT per capita is beneficial to Minnesota because, among other things, it represents increased use of multimodal options, decreased congestion on roadways, and decreased greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.