Title: Highway and Road Expenditures | Urban Institute
Headings: Highway and Road Expenditures
Highway and Road Expenditures
How much do state and local governments spend on highways and roads?
How does state spending differ from local spending and what does the federal government contribute?
How have highway and road expenditures changed over time?
How and why does spending differ across states?
Interactive Data Tools
Further Reading

Content: Spending per vehicle mile traveled may provide a sense of how much states spend relative to how much use their roads get. Looking at dollars spent as a share of vehicle miles traveled, the US average was $567 for every 10,000 miles traveled in 2017. 4 The highest spender was Alaska ($2,559), followed by North Dakota ($1,785), the District of Columbia ($1,225), South Dakota ($1,040), and New York ($988). Spending per vehicle mile traveled spending was lowest in Tennessee ($272), Indiana ($299), and New Mexico ($304). Interactive Data Tools
State and Local Finance Data: Exploring the Census of Governments
State Fiscal Briefs
What everyone should know about their state’s budget
Further Reading
Using Dollars with Sense: Ideas for Better Infrastructure Choices
Urban Institute (2018)
Infrastructure, the Gas Tax, and Municipal Bonds
Richard Auxier and John Iselin (2017)
High costs may explain crumbling support for US infrastructure
Tracy Gordon, Urban Wire (2015)
Reforming State Gas Taxes
Richard Auxier (2014)
Assessing Fiscal Capacities of States: A Representative Revenue System–Representative Expenditure System Approach, Fiscal Year 2012
Tracy Gordon, Richard Auxier, and John Iselin (2016)
Notes
1 Data are from Census expenditure functions E44, F44, G44, E45, F45, and G45. 2 Direct general spending refers to all direct spending (or spending excluding transfers to other governments) except spending specially enumerated as utility, liquor store, employee-retirement, or insurance trust. The utility sector includes public transit systems.