Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

You are what you drive (Infographic)

Marketplace Staff Aug 6, 2013

You are what you… drive? Well, yes.

Turns out there’s a lot we can tell about a person by looking at what kind of car they drive. For instance, with that data, we can estimate a person’s household income, among other things.

Based on sales data from U.S. carmakers over the last few months of 2012, we know that Toyota is the go-to car brand for people making about the median household income (16 percent of families making around $50,502 a year drive Toyotas, a larger share than any other brand). And people in middle are most likely driving a midsize car, 23 percent of them.

That means families at the median income are more likely to be driving mid-size Toyota Camrys than any other car on the road.

For people at the poverty line, Chevy is the most likely brand and they are driving small cars, so it’s all about the Chevy Sonic.

Click the image at left to view a full-size flow chart about that data and some of the other things consumer research believes it knows about you, based on whether you’re making poverty wages, median income or are living the affluent life.

Is our data right? Were we way off?

Let us know in the comments section below.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.