Tesla Model X. Contributor/VCG/Getty Images
- Tesla drivers are majority male and their most common jobs are engineer and manager of operations, a new study found.
- Most Tesla drivers were 34-years-old or younger and lived in areas with median household incomes that averaged $85,000.
- An insurance company surveyed 62,000 drivers, including 228 with Teslas, to compare.
Tesla drivers look different than the average car owner, according to a new analysis.
Jerry, a Palo Alto-based Insurance company, examined safety and demographics data from 10 million trips taken by 62,000 drivers in 52 different makes of vehicles. Some 30,000 of those trips were taken by 228 Tesla drivers, allowing them to determine how the electric-car drivers compare to others on the road.
The analysis found that 83% of the Tesla drivers included in the data set were male. For comparison, men represented only 49% of drivers across all other brands in the study. About 49% of licensed US drivers are male, per the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
Tesla drivers appear to have higher incomes, the study found. The average median household income across the zip codes Tesla drivers called home was $85,000, while non-Tesla drivers had median household incomes of $62,000, Jerry reported. And about a third of the Tesla drivers lived in zip codes with median household incomes of $100,000 or more. Meanwhile, the median household income in the US is $70,784, according to 2021 data from the US Census Bureau.
Tesla drivers are also more likely to own a home than the average driver. The study found that about 36% of Tesla drivers in the data set were homeowners as compared to 17% of non-Tesla drivers. The national rate of homeownership in the US is over 64% — though the number drops below 33% for Americans under the age of 34, per the US Census Bureau.
Tesla drivers appear to represent a younger portion of the population. 70% of the Tesla drivers in the data set were 34-years-old or younger — meaning the majority were Millennials or Generation-Z. Only about 32% of licensed drivers in the US are 34 or younger, according to the FHWA.
Tesla drivers are also more educated on average, per Jerry’s analysis. About one-third of Tesla drivers studied had a master’s degree or Ph.D. as compared to only 13% of the US population, according to the Census. The most common occupations were also engineer, manager of operations, and software engineer, Jerry reported.
Examining driving-safety issues, Jerry found that most Tesla drivers scored lower than others on acceleration safety, but had lower average and top speeds. The electric-car drivers were also less likely to use their phone while driving — a statistic the insurance agency attributed to Tesla’s large infotainment system, which could replace the need for a phone on drives.
Jerry’s analysis mostly lines up with previous studies of Tesla drivers, and is the most recent to date. Hedges & Company, a digital marketing firm for automakers, found in 2018 that Tesla drivers are more likely to own homes and have higher incomes overall — much like other luxury car owners. Though, the 2018 study found the typical Tesla driver is in their 50s and 87% of its owners are white. It said it analyzed a vehicle owner database of over 175 million car owners.
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