Census: 5.5% of U.S. Households Own or Lease an EV, Owners at 6.4%, Renters at 3.6%

The Census Bureau has its first national count of electric vehicles, and it shows who is actually driving them.

About 7.3 million of the nation's 134 million households, or 5.5%, owned or leased at least one EV in 2025, according to the American Community Survey 1-year estimates released Thursday, Oct. 29. The 2025 survey was the first to ask the question. It went to households that keep at least one vehicle at home, and "electric" covers both all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids.

Owners lead renters

Owner households came in at 6.4%. Renter households came in at 3.6%. Axios put it as homeowners being nearly twice as likely as renters to have an EV.

The Census Bureau's statisticians, Tricia Holley and Christopher Mazur, did not say why. Axios transportation correspondent Joann Muller wrote that it comes down to affordability and access to charging. A driveway or garage makes charging easy. A parking space in a multifamily building often does not.

A 2026 study by researchers at the University of Vermont and UC Davis found higher home-charger installation costs at rental properties in Burlington, Vermont. That is one city, not a national finding.

California in a class of its own

California had the largest share at 13.8% of households. Among owners the figure was 17.7%, and among renters 8.9%. The owner-renter gap showed up in every other state too, according to the Sacramento Bee's review of the data.

California's renters, at 8.9%, still own EVs at a higher rate than homeowners nationwide, at 6.4%.

Behind California: Washington (8.9%), Hawaii (8.5%), Nevada (8.2%) and Vermont (7.7%). Washington's share was statistically larger than Vermont's. The Census Bureau says the four were otherwise not significantly different from each other.

At the bottom: North Dakota (1.3%), Wyoming (1.6%), Louisiana (1.6%), South Dakota (1.8%) and Mississippi (1.8%).

The top five counties were all in California. Santa Clara led at 24.1%, about 163,000 households. Marin and San Mateo followed at 21.4% each, then Alameda at 19% and Contra Costa at 18.3%.

Outside California, Boulder County, Colorado, and Loudoun County, Virginia, each hit 13.9%, and King County, Washington, hit 13.4%. The Census Bureau says those three were not significantly different from each other.

Seattle Times columnist Gene Balk noted that California, Hawaii, Nevada and Washington also have the highest average gasoline prices, and called it "surely not coincidental." The Census data does not test that link.

Policy is a live fight

California has put state money behind EV adoption. Starting in August, first-time EV shoppers have been eligible for a rebate of up to $3,500 on a new vehicle, and up to $1,750 on a used one. Data released Oct. 16 by Gov. Gavin Newsom's office showed nearly 12,000 Californians had used the MyFirstEV program.

The California Energy Commission has recorded more than 233,000 zero-emission vehicle sales so far this year, about 18% of passenger vehicle sales. Cumulative sales are a little under 2.8 million.

Newsom re-affirmed the state's commitment to zero-emission vehicle sales requirements in June after facing opposition from President Donald Trump. The situation is ongoing in federal court.

Separately, about two dozen states led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Trump administration earlier this month, alleging that a rule rolling back fuel economy standards is arbitrary and violates federal law.

Because 2025 is the first year the Census Bureau asked, there is no trend yet. Future surveys will start to answer how fast EV adoption is growing.

What the baseline shows is that EV ownership clusters in a handful of Western states and among households that own their homes. Whether state rebates and federal rules change that is a question for the courts and the next survey.