More than one-third fail driver’s license exams
Nearly 35% of people in the U.S. failed their driver’s license written or skills test in recent years, based on data provided by state organizations.
USA TODAY Blueprint analyzed driver’s license test results from 36 states, 34 of which provided results for both the knowledge and skills tests from 2020 to 2023.
In those 34 states, 65.2% of people who took a knowledge (written) or skills (road) driver’s license test passed it, while 34.7% failed. Fourteen states did not provide data.
Indiana had a highest rate of failed driver’s license tests (51.9%), while Missouri (51.3% failure rate) and Wyoming (51.0%) weren’t far behind.
Vermont and Louisiana had the highest rates of success. More than 80% in those states passed their driver’s license knowledge or skill tests between 2020 and 2023.
Based on driver’s license test data, more people pass their on-the-road skill test than the written/knowledge portion of a driver’s license test. Nationwide, 78.8% of people passed the skills portion of the test, while only 61.7% passed the written/knowledge portion of the test.
Test-takers in Idaho and Georgia performed the best on the skills portion of the driver’s license test – 94.9% of people steered their way to a passing grade. Delaware residents performed the worst on the skills side of the test, with only 41% of people passing the practical portion.
Vermont drivers tested best on the knowledge portion, with 87.5% of people passing. In Missouri, test-takers did significantly worse; only 39% of Missourians passed the written/knowledge part of their driver’s license tests between 2020 and 2023.
In 2022, the Federal Highway Administration reported a total of 235,086,153 licensed drivers in the nation. California had the most licensed drivers overall (27,632,103) – unsurprising, since California has the largest population of any state.
Wyoming had the fewest licensed drivers in the U.S., with 431,980. Again, this isn’t a shock: Wyoming has the smallest population of any state.
If we look at licensed drivers in proportion to state population, however, Texas had the lowest number of licensed drivers per capita in 2022. There were 61,334 licensed drivers for every 100,000 people in Texas. New Hampshire had the highest rate of licensed drivers per resident: 83,793 for every 100,000 people.
Passing your driver’s test is not all you need to legally get on the road. You’ll also need to carry auto insurance. At the very least, you’ll need to carry the state minimum car insurance, though that may not be enough to pay for an expensive accident. Consider full coverage auto insurance for more financial protection.
The score you get on your driver’s license test won’t affect the cost of car insurance, but your age, driving record and, potentially, additional driving courses will. Among the companies that offer discounts for participating in safe driving courses are American Family Insurance, Farmers, Geico, Nationwide, State Farm, Travelers and USAA.