Indicator
Trends in households without access to a car
Published
2 July 2024
Last updated
26 June 2026
Time to read
About 2 mins
About 2 mins
Key points
- In 2023–24, almost one in three households on the lowest incomes did not have access to a car, compared with less than one in ten of the households on the highest incomes.
- Over the last decade, the gap in access to a car between the poorest and richest households has reduced but remains large.
- Against the long-term downward trend, the proportion of people on the lowest incomes with no access to a car saw an increase from 28% in 2021–22 to 31% in 2023–24.
Transport has a direct effect on health through pollution and noise, but it can also affect health indirectly through its relationship with other factors that shape our health. Not having access to a car can limit social and economic participation and access to public services.
This chart shows the percentage of households in the UK without access to a car by their household income. Income is adjusted for household size and composition but not housing costs.
- In 2023–24, 16% of UK households did not have access to a car. However, this aggregate figure hides large variations depending on people’s incomes.
- Almost one in three (31%) of households on the lowest incomes (the bottom quintile) did not have access to a car, which is over 4 times higher than households on the highest incomes (the top quintile).
- The gap in car-ownership rates between the highest and lowest income quintiles has reduced over the last decade – due to increased access to a car among poorer households – but it remains large.
- Among people on the highest incomes, there has been a slight increase in the number of households without access to a car, from a low of 5% in 2014–15 to 8% in 2023–24.
The relatively large upfront and ongoing maintenance costs associated with owning a car partly explain this gap, as these costs are more likely to be a financial burden for low-income households.
- The data presented here are weighted estimates from Understanding Society survey, a longitudinal survey of households in the UK.
- The population represented by the Understanding Society survey differs at inclusion waves – wave 1 (2009–10) and waves 6 (2014–15) and 14 (2023–24), when new households are recruited into the survey. These three waves are not fully comparable with the other waves, and observed differences may partly capture changes in study population.
- Income is equivalised, which means it is adjusted for household size to reflect economies of scale: for example, a household of four needs more income for the same standard of living as a household of one, but not four times as much.
