The best selling car in every state

Trucks and SUVs dominate the country

Have you ever wondered what the best selling car in every state is? Depending on where you live in may come as a surprise. In fact, the best selling car in most states aren’t even cars at all! Gone are the days when traditional four-door sedans and minivans rules the roads. Today, you’re more likely to come across a large truck or SUV.

As shown in the map above, the Ford F-150 truck is the best selling car in most states. And it has been for a quite a few years! The Dodge Ram, Chevrolet Silverado, and Toyota Tacoma make up the remaining trucks as best sellers for their respective states. That leaves just 10 states (including D.C.) with a non-truck as the best seller. And of those 10, eight are SUVs, so still large vehicles. Only California and Florida have a car as their best selling car, as in a four-door sedan. You may be asking yourself where I’m going with this, so let’s get there.

Americans are addicted to large cars

There’s an interested problem occurring right now on our roads. Over the last 20 years, barring a couple odd years in the late 2000s, cars have gotten much bigger. And it’s not just that Americans are buying cars that are naturally bigger such as trucks and SUVs. It’s that trucks and SUVs are quite a bit larger than they were even 10 years ago. There is an unspoken arms race occurring between vehicle makers to outsize each other in almost every car category. And that arms race is literally killing people as pedestrian deaths soar across the country.

Unfortunately, there’s no easy way out of our current situation either. Americans have been convinced by savvy marketing that bigger cars are better. And for good reason too! These large trucks and SUVs are far more profitable than the smaller vehicles of yesteryear. But let’s say that people did want to start buying smaller cars once again. Well, even more unfortunately, fewer carmakers are even making compact vehicles! Ford stopped selling cars altogether (aside from the Mustang) and many more carmakers have dropped many models from their lineup.

The top 25 best selling cars overall

Not to drive the point home too much, but this graph shows just how many trucks are sold as compared to other vehicles. The Ford F-150, Dodge Ram, and Chevrolet Silverado are the top three best selling vehicles in the country, followed by a few SUVs. But notice that drop off from the Silverado to the RAV4? It’s quite stark! And of the top 25 best selling cars, only six are four-door sedans.

Pedestrian deaths are hitting new heights in America right now. While there are many potential reasons for this, vehicle size is almost certainly a big one. A larger car will hit a pedestrian where their vital organs are. This, combined with a unique car culture that celebrates speed and power, has created a bad situation for our streets. A situation which has no easy fix.