Study

The best cities and states to own an EV in 2024

California cities dominate EV charging, but it's not at the top of the state rankings

Feb 28th 2024 at 1:20PM

As automakers continue to push to produce all-electric vehicles, there has also been an increase in the infrastructure to support these cars. Where you live — and how many public chargers are there — could be one factor determining whether an all-electric vehicle is right for you, if you can't always charge at home. Nationwide, EV infrastructure grew by 24% in 2023, but it grew more in some places than in others.

According to iSeeCars.com, Los Angeles is the top metro area with the most public Level 2 and Level 3/DC fast chargers. The metro area reported over 21,000 of them. Staying in California, San Francisco is second with nearly 16,000 chargers, and rounding out the top three is the Big Apple — New York City has 8,903 chargers. (The report also listed the worst states for owning an EV.) 

Top 10 metro areas with the most EV chargers:

  1. Los Angeles
  2. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose
  3. New York
  4. Boston and Manchester, New Hampshire
  5. Washington, D.C.
  6. Denver
  7. Seattle-Tacoma
  8. San Diego
  9. Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, California
  10. Atlanta

The study then went a step further than reporting charger numbers, and calculated the ratio of residents to chargers as a measure of which cities are the "most friendly" to EVs. California still came out on top, and five California cities were in the top 10:

Top 10 most EV-friendly metro areas:

  1. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose
  2. San Diego
  3. Los Angeles
  4. Denver
  5. Boston and Manchester, New Hampshire
  6. Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, California
  7. Kansas City, Missouri
  8. Baltimore
  9. Fresno-Visalia, California
  10. Seattle-Tacoma, Washington

While California’s metro cities dominate for EV-friendly, the state as a whole slips into second place behind Vermont when states as a whole are ranked.

Top 10 most EV-friendly states:

  1. Vermont
  2. California
  3. Massachusetts
  4. Colorado
  5. Maryland
  6. Oregon
  7. Washington
  8. Maine
  9. Rhode Island
  10. Connecticut

For more details, including a list of cities that have the most- and least-improved EV infrastructure, check out the full report.

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