Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This is one of those change-of-pace posts in-between multiple-week series. It’s really more for me. It’s one of those fun and nerdy posts that I like to do occasionally that’s mostly based on my extensive data entries via Excel spreadsheet (my favorite toy). Maybe you’ll find it interesting. It does have to do with travel, but it’s more numbers-based rather than places-based.
So far this year (as of April 30TH 2026) I’ve driven a little over 1,550 miles. The year is now one-third done. Extrapolated over the course of the entire year – I should have accumulated around 4,650 miles by New Year’s Eve. That would actually be above my forecast of a few months ago of “probably less than 4,000 miles”.
I asked Google – Is 4,650 miles of driving a year average. (Of course I already knew the answer, but I needed a good chuckle.) I got it:
No – 4,650 miles of driving per year is not average. It is considered very low mileage. The average American drives significantly more – with estimates typically falling between 13,000 and 14,500 miles annually. Your total is well below typical benchmarks used for car insurance – where 10,000 miles or less is often classified as “low mileage”.
Context: While 4,650 is very low compared to the U.S. average – it might be typical for city dwellers, retirees, or remote workers who rarely commute.
Google AI so knows me; although, I tend to think that our nation’s average driver racks-up well over 15,000 miles per year – maybe even closer to 20,000 miles per year with the growing popularity of outlying suburbs and exurbs.
January and February continued my recent trend of driving less than 300 miles a month. And then March occurred. I unexpectedly went on a 5-day / 420-mile road-trip to and from South Florida (which I documented for 4 weeks here on #TravelThursday last month.) That pushed my mileage for the month up to 708 miles. That was higher than all but 2 of the previous 16 months.
My April mileage was a little bit higher than I expected, as it was the 2ND-highest month over the past 7 months. I unexpectedly drove 317 miles last month. That was elevated due to an early-month trip to and from Lake Wales – one of those exurbs that I noted earlier. It’s about 50 miles from Orlando and about 60 miles from Tampa. Many residents of Lake Wales regularly commute to and from either city.
Fun Facts: I briefly considered Lake Wales as my new retirement home about a decade ago, but I removed it from consideration early on due to the rush hour traffic that I saw heading out of Orlando, down I-4, and down U.S. 27 towards Lake Wales. It is now experiencing rapid growth with perhaps 10,000+ new homes under construction or being planned.
Next #TravelThursday – I’ll take you to the local area Florida State Park. Let’s keep traveling together.
All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
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