  Using U.S. nationwide travel surveys for 1995, 2001, 2009 and 2017, this
study compares Millennials with their previous generation (Gen Xers) in terms
of their automobile travel across different neighborhood patterns. At the age
of 16 to 28 years old, Millennials have lower daily personal vehicle miles
traveled and car trips than Gen Xers in urban (higher-density) and suburban
(lower-density) neighborhoods. Such differences remain unchanged after
adjusting for the socio-economic, vehicle ownership, life cycle, year-specific
and regional-specific factors. In addition, the associations between
residential density and automobile travel for the 16- to 28-year-old
Millennials are flatter than that for Gen Xers, controlling for the
aforementioned covariates. These generational differences remain for the 24- to
36-year-old Millennials, during the period when the U.S. economy was recovering
from the recession. These findings show that, in both urban and suburban
neighborhoods, Millennials in the U.S. are less auto-centric than the previous
generation during early life stages, regardless of economic conditions. Whether
such difference persists over later life stages remains an open question and is
worth continuous attention.
