U.S. sales of motorcycles 2000-2020

It is estimated that customers in the United States purchased about 780,000 new motorcycles in 2019. Retail sales have increased sharply compared to 2019, with 2020 being the peak for new sales during the period reported.

On-road motorcycles make up most of the market

The revenue of the motorcycle market in the U.S. was projected to decline from some 6.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 to 5.25 billion in 2021, with on-road two-wheelers being the largest segment of the market. Designed to be ridden on paved roads, on-road motorcycles (commonly called Street motorcycles) record on average engines in the 125cc and over range and include standard, sport, and touring bikes. Wisconsin-based Harley-Davidson was the market leader, holding some 31 percent of the motorcycle market shares. It was followed by Japanese brands Honda and Yamaha, with Honda recording a rise in bike sales in North America amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. While overall sales of two-wheelers have been climbing, the average price of two-wheelers remained stable despite the COVID-19 pandemic, at around 11,894 U.S. dollars per motorcycle as of 2021.

California leads in two-wheeler registration

Most two-wheeler buyers resided in California, where over 808,300 motorcycles are registered. Other states where motorcycles were a popular mode of transportation included Florida, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. California was also the state recording the highest average annual motorcycle insurance premium in the U.S. as of July 2021. It was 185 U.S. dollars higher than Louisiana’s premium, which came second in the ranking. Two years earlier, in 2019, some 40,800 motorbikes were stolen across the country. Just under 17 percent of the total motorcycle thefts were recorded in California. Paired with Florida, the two states represented over a quarter of all motorcycle thefts.