Pickup truck ownership is best understood through several related measures rather than one ownership rate. In the United States, pickups accounted for 14.8% of new light-duty vehicle production in model year 2025, while pickup trucks in operation averaged 13.1 years of age in December 2023. The available measures describe production, vehicles in use, fuel economy, and purchase spending; they do not establish the percentage of households that own a pickup.
Contents
- Long-run production share
- Recent market direction
- Fuel economy by model year
- Manufacturer production mix
- Vehicle age and purchase spending
- Truck-market context and technology
- How to interpret ownership statistics
Long-run production share
The clearest long-run indicator in the available data is pickup share of U.S. new light-duty vehicle production. This is a model-year production measure, not a count of pickup owners or households. The EPA series shows pickups holding a relatively stable share through the late twentieth century before moving lower in the early 2010s.
| Model year | Pickup share of new light-duty production |
|---|---|
| 1975 | 13.1% |
| 1980 | 12.7% |
| 1985 | 14.4% |
| 1990 | 14.5% |
| 1995 | 15.0% |
| 2000 | 15.8% |
| 2005 | 14.5% |
| 2010 | 11.5% |
In model year 1975, pickups represented 13.1% of U.S. new light-duty production. The share was 12.7% in 1980, 14.4% in 1985, and 14.5% in 1990. It reached 15.0% in 1995 and 15.8% in 2000, then measured 14.5% in 2005 and 11.5% in 2010. These are estimates from the EPA production-share series, and the category is pickups specifically rather than the broader truck regulatory class. (The 2025 EPA Automotive Trends Report)
Production share can help show how prominently pickups appear in the new-vehicle market at a given time. It cannot be converted directly into an ownership percentage. A production measure counts vehicles built during a model year, whereas ownership measures would count households, consumers, or vehicles in operation. The two populations also differ because vehicles remain in use after production and because one household may own more than one vehicle.
Recent market direction
The EPA estimates show pickup production recovering from its 2015 low and remaining above 14% of new light-duty production from 2019 through 2025. The year-by-year pattern is:
- 2015: 10.7% of U.S. new light-duty vehicle production.
- 2016: 11.7%.
- 2017: 12.1%.
- 2018: 13.9%.
- 2019: 15.6%.
- 2020: 14.4%.
- 2021: 16.1%.
- 2022: 16.4%.
- 2023: 14.7%.
- 2024: 14.1%.
- 2025: 14.8%, preliminary.
The highest value in this recent run is 16.4% in model year 2022. The share then declined to 14.7% in 2023 and 14.1% in 2024 before the preliminary 2025 estimate of 14.8%. Because the 2025 figure is labeled preliminary by the EPA, it should be treated as an estimate subject to revision rather than a final production result. (The 2025 EPA Automotive Trends Report)
This pattern describes the composition of new light-duty production. It does not show that the same percentage of vehicles on the road, drivers, or households owned pickups in any of these years. It also should not be read as a direct measure of demand for pickup accessories, repair work, insurance, or fuel.
Fuel economy by model year
EPA estimated real-world fuel economy for new pickups at 18.8 miles per gallon in model year 2015. The estimate was 18.9 mpg in 2016 and 2017, 19.1 mpg in 2018, and 19.0 mpg in 2019. It rose to 19.2 mpg in 2020, 19.3 mpg in 2021, 20.0 mpg in 2022, and 20.5 mpg in 2023 and 2024. The preliminary 2025 estimate is 21.3 mpg.
| Model year | Estimated real-world pickup fuel economy |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 18.8 mpg |
| 2018 | 19.1 mpg |
| 2020 | 19.2 mpg |
| 2022 | 20.0 mpg |
| 2024 | 20.5 mpg |
| 2025 preliminary | 21.3 mpg |
The measure is an EPA estimate for new pickup production, not an observed average for every pickup in use. It therefore does not describe the fuel economy of the entire ownership fleet, which includes older vehicles. It also does not provide a fuel-cost estimate because fuel prices, miles driven, load, towing, maintenance, and driving conditions are not supplied here. (The 2025 EPA Automotive Trends Report)
The direction is nevertheless useful for comparing new model years: the estimate moved from 18.8 mpg in 2015 to 20.5 mpg in 2024, with a preliminary 21.3 mpg for 2025. That progression should be kept separate from the age and condition of pickups already owned by consumers.
Manufacturer production mix
EPA’s model-year 2024 manufacturer table shows that pickup production was not equally important across manufacturers, and estimated fuel economy also varied. The table reports each manufacturer’s pickup share of its production and the estimated real-world fuel economy of those pickups.
| Manufacturer | Pickup share of production | Estimated real-world fuel economy |
|---|---|---|
| Ford | 41.8% | 22.8 mpg |
| GM | 32.8% | 18.9 mpg |
| Honda | 2.5% | 20.9 mpg |
| Nissan | 10.2% | 20.1 mpg |
| Stellantis | 16.5% | 19.3 mpg |
| Toyota | 15.3% | 21.1 mpg |
| All manufacturers | 14.1% | 20.5 mpg |
Ford’s 2024 pickup production had a 41.8% pickup share and 22.8 mpg estimated real-world fuel economy. GM’s pickup share was 32.8%, with 18.9 mpg. Honda’s was 2.5%, with 20.9 mpg; Nissan’s was 10.2%, with 20.1 mpg; Stellantis’s was 16.5%, with 19.3 mpg; and Toyota’s was 15.3%, with 21.1 mpg. The all-manufacturer result was a 14.1% pickup share and 20.5 mpg. (The 2025 EPA Automotive Trends Report)
The EPA also lists an “Other” aggregate with a 1.0% pickup share and 71.7 mpg estimated real-world fuel economy. Because this is an aggregate category and the reported value is unusually high relative to the named manufacturer rows, it should be retained as reported rather than treated as a typical pickup-owner result. The manufacturer table is production-based, and its fuel-economy figures remain estimates for new pickups.
Vehicle age and purchase spending
A separate measure describes the vehicles already in operation. Pickup trucks in operation had an average age of 13.1 years in December 2023 in an Argonne analysis using Experian Automotive vehicles-in-operation data. This is an average vehicle age, not an average length of household ownership and not a pickup-ownership rate. (FOTW #1362, Sept. 30, 2024)
The age figure matters when reading new-production fuel-economy statistics. A new pickup estimate applies to the model year being produced; a 13.1-year average age indicates that the in-use population includes many older model years. The two measures answer different questions and should not be combined into a single fleet-average fuel-economy claim.
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey data provide conditional purchase-spending means for consumer units reporting a truck purchase. For new trucks, the mean quarterly spending was $33,090 in 2019, $37,984 in 2020, $43,670 in 2021, $40,152 in 2022, and $46,045 in 2023. For used trucks, the mean was $14,487 in 2019, $16,266 in 2020, and $19,012 in 2021.
| Year | New-truck purchase mean | Used-truck purchase mean |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $33,090 | $14,487 |
| 2020 | $37,984 | $16,266 |
| 2021 | $43,670 | $19,012 |
| 2022 | $40,152 | — |
| 2023 | $46,045 | — |
These BLS amounts are nominal U.S. dollars per quarter and apply only to consumer units reporting the relevant purchase. They are not annual ownership costs, monthly payments, total lifetime costs, or a typical price for every pickup. No used-truck means for 2022 or 2023 are included in the cited figures. (Consumer expenditures in 2023)
Truck-market context and technology
Pickups are one category within the broader truck regulatory class. That class includes pickups, truck SUVs, and vans, so its values must not be treated as pickup-only ownership statistics. The broader class represented 19.3% of U.S. new light-duty production in 1975, 41.2% in 2000, and 65.7% in 2024. (The 2025 EPA Automotive Trends Report)
The broader-class figures provide context for how the new light-duty market changed, but they do not identify how many pickups households owned. In particular, the 65.7% figure for 2024 includes truck SUVs and vans as well as pickups.
Within 2024 pickup production, battery-electric pickups represented 2%, and no pickup plug-in hybrids were reported. These are production shares, not shares of the in-use ownership fleet. (The 2025 EPA Automotive Trends Report)
EPA also modeled a 2024 comparison: pickups without battery-electric or plug-in-hybrid models would have averaged 20.3 mpg, compared with 20.5 mpg for all pickups. This is a modeled counterfactual within the new-pickup production dataset, not a causal estimate of household fuel savings.
How to interpret ownership statistics
For a careful reading of pickup truck ownership statistics, keep the population and period attached to every number:
- Production shares describe U.S. new light-duty vehicles by model year.
- Fuel-economy figures describe EPA estimates for new pickups, with 2025 marked preliminary.
- The 13.1-year figure describes pickup vehicles in operation in December 2023.
- BLS spending means describe consumer units that reported a new- or used-truck purchase in the stated year.
- Broader truck-class shares include truck SUVs and vans.
- Battery-electric and plug-in-hybrid figures describe new pickup production, not the vehicles currently in use.
No direct national household pickup-ownership percentage is established by these measures. The EPA production series, DOE vehicle-age estimate, and BLS purchase-spending data can show the scale and characteristics of the market, but they should not be presented as a single estimate of how many U.S. households own a pickup.