Table 11
Registered Automobiles -- Estimate Fee Paid Vehicles -- 1930-1990

County	Annual 1930	Annual 1940	Annual 1950	Annual 1960	Annual 1970	4/1 Estimate 1980	4/1 Estimate 1990
San Francisco	146,182	176,290	237,574	264,723	288,056	283,797	330,916
San Mateo	24,427	41,799	90,700	195,780	308,460	389,396	482,215
Santa Clara	53,948	70,248	115,532	277,960	542,650	753,725	953,542
Alameda	139,885	182,383	265,183	375,379	511,764	592,177	725,756
Contra Costa	24,329	37,468	99,992	170,450	281,929	380,089	503,960
Solano	13,334	18,333	36,657	51,386	82,427	116,555	183,028
Napa	7,604	10,183	16,546	25,246	39,285	53,641	65,363
Sonoma	25,376	28,558	43,259	64,733	104,213	161,047	231,544
Marin	10,836	16,753	30,747	62,401	108,072	136,483	165,595
Region	445,921	582,015	936,190	1,488,058	2,266,856	2,866,910	3,641,919

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Table 12
Registered Commercial/Trucks – Est. Fee Paid Vehicles – 1930-1990

County	Annual 1930	Annual 1940	Annual 1950	Annual 1960	Annual 1970	4/1 Estimate 1980	4/1 Estimate 1990
San Francisco	9,706	16,108	30,297	44,918	48,866	54,105	75,701
San Mateo	1,233	2,412	7,137	20,367	39,243	71,417	100,339
Santa Clara	2,751	6,183	15,063	36,077	79,020	153,316	219,977
Alameda	5,811	11,188	25,685	44,557	81,446	136,003	190,358
Contra Costa	1,066	2,520	9,075	18,914	43,062	79,832	125,565
Solano	617	1,415	3,908	7,142	13,937	31,983	57,197
Napa	484	1,158	2,583	4,621	8,997	17,530	25,260
Sonoma	1,709	3,555	8,323	15,661	27,530	55,217	88,029
Marin	512	1,226	3,171	6,493	12,273	22,954	34,249
Region	23,889	45,765	105,242	198,750	354,374	622,357	916,675

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Table 13
Registered Personal Vehicles – Fee Paid Vehicles – 1930-1990
(Excluding Heavy-Duty Commercial Trucks)

County	Annual 1930	Annual 1940	Annual 1950	Annual 1960	Annual 1970	4/1 Estimate 1980	4/1 Estimate 1990
San Francisco	152,653	187,029	257,772	294,668	320,633	319,867	381,383
San Mateo	25,249	43,407	95,458	209,358	334,622	437,007	549,107
Santa Clara	55,782	74,370	125,574	302,011	595,329	855,935	1,100,192
Alameda	143,759	189,842	282,306	405,083	566,061	682,845	852,660
Contra Costa	25,040	39,148	106,042	183,059	310,637	433,310	587,669
Solano	13,745	19,276	39,262	56,147	91,718	137,877	221,159
Napa	7,927	10,955	18,268	28,327	45,283	65,328	82,203
Sonoma	26,515	30,928	48,808	75,174	122,566	197,858	290,229
Marin	11,177	17,570	32,861	66,730	116,254	151,786	188,427
Region	461,847	612,525	1,006,351	1,620,557	2,503,103	3,281,813	4,253,029

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Table 14
Registered Autos, Trucks, Vans – Est. Fee Paid Vehicles – 1930-1990
(Including Heavy Duty Commercial Trucks)

County	Annual 1930	Annual 1940	Annual 1950	Annual 1960	Annual 1970	4/1 Estimate 1980	4/1 Estimate 1990
San Francisco	155,888	192,398	267,871	309,641	336,922	337,902	406,617
San Mateo	25,660	44,211	97,837	216,147	347,703	460,813	582,554
Santa Clara	56,699	76,431	130,595	314,037	621,670	907,041	1,173,519
Alameda	145,696	193,571	290,868	419,936	593,210	728,180	916,114
Contra Costa	25,395	39,988	109,067	189,364	324,991	459,921	629,525
Solano	13,951	19,748	40,565	58,528	96,364	148,538	240,225
Napa	8,088	11,341	19,129	29,867	48,282	71,171	90,623
Sonoma	27,085	32,113	51,582	80,394	131,743	216,264	319,573
Marin	11,348	17,979	33,918	68,894	120,345	159,437	199,844
Region	469,810	627,780	1,041,432	1,686,808	2,621,230	3,489,267	4,558,594

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Table 15
Average Autos Registered per Households -- 1930-1990

County	Annual 1930	Annual 1940	Annual 1950	Annual 1960	Annual 1970	4/1 Estimate 1980	4/1 Estimate 1990
San Francisco	0.82	0.86	0.92	0.91	0.98	0.95	1.08
San Mateo	1.17	1.25	1.27	1.45	1.67	1.73	1.99
Santa Clara	1.34	1.35	1.35	1.50	1.68	1.64	1.83
Alameda	1.02	1.10	1.11	1.27	1.40	1.39	1.51
Contra Costa	1.17	1.26	1.20	1.45	1.63	1.57	1.68
Solano	1.22	1.26	1.20	1.34	1.61	1.45	1.61
Napa	1.33	1.33	1.31	1.34	1.57	1.46	1.58
Sonoma	1.40	1.32	1.31	1.37	1.54	1.41	1.55
Marin	1.03	1.23	1.22	1.41	1.61	1.54	1.74
Region	1.01	1.07	1.12	1.27	1.46	1.45	1.62

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Table 16
Average Autos Registered per Person -- 1930-1990

County	Annual 1930	Annual 1940	Annual 1950	Annual 1960	Annual 1970	4/1 Estimate 1980	4/1 Estimate 1990
San Francisco	0.23	0.28	0.31	0.36	0.40	0.42	0.46
San Mateo	0.32	0.37	0.38	0.44	0.55	0.66	0.74
Santa Clara	0.37	0.40	0.40	0.43	0.51	0.58	0.64
Alameda	0.29	0.36	0.36	0.41	0.48	0.54	0.57
Contra Costa	0.31	0.37	0.33	0.42	0.51	0.58	0.63
Solano	0.33	0.37	0.35	0.38	0.48	0.50	0.54
Napa	0.33	0.36	0.36	0.38	0.50	0.54	0.59
Sonoma	0.41	0.41	0.42	0.44	0.51	0.54	0.60
Marin	0.26	0.32	0.36	0.43	0.52	0.61	0.72
Region	0.28	0.34	0.35	0.41	0.49	0.55	0.60

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Table 17
Average Total Vehicles Registered per Households -- 1930-1990

County	Annual 1930	Annual 1940	Annual 1950	Annual 1960	Annual 1970	4/1 Estimate 1980	4/1 Estimate 1990
San Francisco	0.87	0.93	1.04	1.06	1.14	1.13	1.33
San Mateo	1.23	1.32	1.37	1.60	1.88	2.05	2.41
Santa Clara	1.41	1.47	1.53	1.70	1.93	1.98	2.26
Alameda	1.06	1.17	1.22	1.42	1.62	1.71	1.91
Contra Costa	1.23	1.34	1.31	1.61	1.88	1.90	2.10
Solano	1.28	1.36	1.33	1.52	1.89	1.85	2.12
Napa	1.42	1.48	1.51	1.58	1.92	1.94	2.19
Sonoma	1.49	1.48	1.57	1.70	1.94	1.89	2.14
Marin	1.07	1.32	1.35	1.56	1.79	1.80	2.10
Region	1.06	1.15	1.24	1.44	1.69	1.77	2.03

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Table 18
Average Total Vehicles Registered per Person -- 1930-1990

County	Annual 1930	Annual 1940	Annual 1950	Annual 1960	Annual 1970	4/1 Estimate 1980	4/1 Estimate 1990
San Francisco	0.25	0.30	0.35	0.42	0.47	0.50	0.56
San Mateo	0.33	0.40	0.42	0.49	0.62	0.78	0.90
Santa Clara	0.39	0.44	0.45	0.49	0.58	0.70	0.78
Alameda	0.31	0.38	0.39	0.46	0.55	0.66	0.72
Contra Costa	0.32	0.40	0.36	0.46	0.58	0.70	0.78
Solano	0.34	0.40	0.39	0.43	0.56	0.63	0.71
Napa	0.35	0.40	0.41	0.45	0.61	0.72	0.82
Sonoma	0.44	0.47	0.50	0.55	0.64	0.72	0.82
Marin	0.27	0.34	0.40	0.47	0.58	0.72	0.87
Region	0.30	0.36	0.39	0.46	0.57	0.67	0.76

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Table 19
Average Personal Vehicles Registered per Households -- 1930-1990

County	Annual 1930	Annual 1940	Annual 1950	Annual 1960	Annual 1970	4/1 Estimate 1980	4/1 Estimate 1990
San Francisco	0.85	0.91	1.00	1.01	1.09	1.07	1.25
San Mateo	1.21	1.30	1.34	1.55	1.81	1.94	2.27
Santa Clara	1.39	1.43	1.47	1.63	1.84	1.87	2.12
Alameda	1.05	1.15	1.19	1.37	1.55	1.60	1.78
Contra Costa	1.21	1.31	1.27	1.55	1.80	1.79	1.96
Solano	1.26	1.32	1.29	1.46	1.79	1.71	1.95
Napa	1.39	1.43	1.44	1.50	1.80	1.78	1.99
Sonoma	1.46	1.43	1.48	1.59	1.81	1.73	1.95
Marin	1.06	1.29	1.30	1.51	1.73	1.71	1.98
Region	1.04	1.13	1.20	1.38	1.61	1.67	1.89

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Table 20
Average Personal Vehicles Registered per Person -- 1930-1990

County	Annual 1930	Annual 1940	Annual 1950	Annual 1960	Annual 1970	4/1 Estimate 1980	4/1 Estimate 1990
San Francisco	0.24	0.29	0.33	0.40	0.45	0.47	0.53
San Mateo	0.33	0.39	0.41	0.47	0.60	0.74	0.85
Santa Clara	0.38	0.43	0.43	0.47	0.56	0.66	0.73
Alameda	0.30	0.37	0.38	0.45	0.53	0.62	0.67
Contra Costa	0.32	0.39	0.35	0.45	0.56	0.66	0.73
Solano	0.34	0.39	0.37	0.42	0.53	0.59	0.65
Napa	0.35	0.38	0.39	0.43	0.57	0.66	0.74
Sonoma	0.43	0.45	0.47	0.51	0.60	0.66	0.75
Marin	0.27	0.33	0.38	0.45	0.56	0.68	0.82
Region	0.29	0.35	0.38	0.45	0.54	0.63	0.71

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Last Updated: SEP1897, CPurvis
Back to Report: Auto Ownership in the San Francisco Bay Area: 1930-2010