Ownership of cars, light trucks are on rise, University of Michigan researcher says

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Michael Sivak, of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, found that light vehicle ownership rates per person and per household are at their highest levels since 2008 and 2009, respectively. 

Sivak's report used data from the Federal Highway Administration, ProQuest and the U.S. Census Bureau.

The ownership rate per person for 2016 is .766, while the rate per household is 1.968. Per person rates have increased four straight years and household rates have gone up three years in a row. 

However, both rates are below their peak in 2006 -- down 2.5 percent per person and 4 percent per household.

Sivak also examined annual distances driven per person and per household, both of which peaked in 2004. While the two rates for 2016 are down 5.3 percent and 7 percent, respectively, from their maximum levels, they have risen for three consecutive years.

The distance driven rate per person for 2016, 8,819 miles, is about the same as it was in 1999, while the rate per household, 22,649 miles, is about the same as it was in 1995.