What vehicles do state DOTs and police drive?

State, county and city governments own about 4.2 million vehicles, by their 2024 reports to the Federal Highway Administration. No national count says which makes they are. Seven states publish lists that do. In most of them the state police drive Dodge Chargers or Ford police vehicles, and DOT crews drive pickups and heavy trucks.

How many vehicles do state and local governments own?

4,215,404 motor vehicles in 2024. That is 1,295,922 cars, 462,306 buses and 2,457,176 trucks, owned by states, counties and cities together. Federal agencies had another 492,199 on the road in the states.

Connecticut, Michigan and Missouri reported none, so the real total is higher. FHWA publishes what each state reports. It does not break the count out by agency or by make.

What do state police and DOTs drive in each state?

Where a state publishes a list of its own vehicles with makes or models, the table shows the most common one for the state police and for the DOT. The Dodge Charger leads in California, Arkansas and Utah. A Ford police Explorer or police SUV leads in Illinois and Maine. Indiana's State Police units are mostly Dodge Durangos.

DOT crews mostly drive pickups and big trucks. The Ford F-150 leads in Illinois and Indiana, and the Chevrolet Silverado in California. Maine's and Utah's DOTs list more of one heavy truck than anything else, the International 7400 and the Mack GU713.

Who is counted: the government vehicles column counts every car, bus and truck owned by the state, its counties and its cities, as each state reported it to FHWA for 2024. The other columns count only the state police and the state DOT, from the state's own list. 13 more states publish totals without makes, and 30 publish no list we could find.

• Arkansas: The list has no vehicles under the Arkansas DOT.
• Connecticut: The newest list is from 2020 and includes boats and trailers. The DOT list names makers but not models.
• Illinois: The report lists models without makes. Heavy trucks do not appear in it.
• Indiana: Counted from the central fleet units the Department of Administration holds for each agency. The agencies own other vehicles too.
• Maine: The State Police list names the model "SUV-PI".
• Utah: Active vehicles. 204 Public Safety vehicles are listed as unmarked with no model and are not counted.
• * The state left one or more vehicle types out of its FHWA report.
• Models are shown the way each list names them. A count of 153 of 551 means 153 of the agency's 551 listed vehicles.

What does the California Highway Patrol drive?

Who is counted: California Highway Patrol vehicles in the state's 2025 fleet report, not counting ones sold or retired that year. Cars, SUVs, pickups, vans, trucks and motorcycles are counted. Trailers, aircraft and boats are not.

Police versions are counted with the base model. CHP motorcycle officers mostly ride BMWs. 360 of its 378 motorcycles are the BMW R 1250.

How has the CHP patrol fleet changed since 2020?

The Tahoe count went from 563 in 2020 to 826 in 2025. Explorers went from 1,169 to 617. Chargers peaked at 1,950 in 2023. Reports before 2020 are left out because they are incomplete.

What does Caltrans drive?

Who is counted: Caltrans vehicles and equipment in the state's 2025 fleet report, not counting ones sold or retired that year. Trailers, aircraft and boats are not counted.

The report lists 1,623 Caltrans vehicles as battery electric, 17% of the fleet. The most common are the Chevrolet Silverado (587), Tesla Model 3 (393), Volkswagen ID.4 (232) and Rivian R1T (199). 3,232 run on diesel and 33 on hydrogen.

What do Seattle police drive?

Who is counted: Seattle Police Department vehicles in the city's active fleet list, updated August 18, 2026. Trailers are not counted.

The Police Interceptor Utility is Ford's police version of the Explorer. Seattle has 298 of the hybrid model and 49 of the gas one.

What does Seattle's transportation department drive?

Who is counted: Seattle Department of Transportation vehicles and equipment in the same city list. This is a city DOT, not the state one. Trailers are not counted.

71 of SDOT's 409 vehicles run on electricity. For Seattle police it is 76 of 769. The city lists hybrids as gas.

Where does this come from?

• FHWA Highway Statistics 2024, Table MV-7, published January 2026, publicly owned vehicles by state.
• State Vehicle Inventory Search, Arkansas Dept. of Finance and Administration.
• DESPP Fleet Asset List 2020, Connecticut DAS.
• FY2025 Vehicle Cost Data Report, Illinois Central Management Services.
• Assets Data, Indiana Transparency Portal.
• 2025 Annual Report of State Owned Vehicles, Maine Central Fleet Management.
• 2023 State Vehicle Report, Utah Division of Fleet Operations.
• California State Fleet, California Department of General Services. 2025 report year, last updated October 1, 2026.
• Active Fleet Complement, City of Seattle. Public domain, updated August 18, 2026.

MileCheck looked for a published vehicle list in every state on October 16, 2026, in open data portals, fleet offices and legislative reports, and counted each list from the state's own file. California and Seattle were counted on October 16, 2026.

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