Tesla Model 3 Demographics: Who Buys Model 3s by Age, Income: (2024)

Demographics of Tesla Model 3 owners: average income

Let’s start our Tesla Model 3 demographics analysis with average household income. In 2022 a Tesla Model 3 owner has household income of $133,879 per year, up from $128,140 per year four years ago. That 4% increase is significant since overall median income is down in the US over the past several years. The Model S owner has an average household income of $151,096.

Comparing that to the rest of the country, the median household income in the United States in 2020 was $67,521.

(By the way, the average household income for a Tesla owner is not the same as median household income. For an explanation of “average” vs. “median” click here.)

Most Tesla owners live in California. That’s where the income is higher than average. For a look at the distribution of the Tesla Model 3 by state, see below. The margin of error is +/-2.5%.

Tesla Model 3 ownership by state

Most Tesla Model 3 owners are in California by a wide margin. It’s pretty obvious on the map, it’s the only state in the darkest shade of green.

The rest of the Top 10 states for Tesla Model 3 owners are Washington at number two.

It’s followed in order by Florida, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois and Arizona.

The state with the least amount of Tesla Model 3 registrations is Michigan. It is preceded by Alaska, North Dakota, Wyoming and South Dakota.

At first glance, the Model 3 doesn’t look as popular in the colder states. On the other hand, Wisconsin and Minnesota are right in the middle for popularity.

55% of Tesla Model 3 owners live in the wealthiest 10% of ZIP codes in the United States.

Average age of a Tesla Model 3 owner

Tesla Model S owners tend to be an older demographic. The Model 3 was selling to an important slightly younger demographic.

Our data shows that the median age of a Tesla Model 3 owner in 2022 is 51 years old. That’s up from 46 years old a few years ago and very close to the median age for other Tesla owners. That compares to 38 for the US population. People interested in buying a Model 3 are younger than other Tesla owners also according to Quantcast.

The median age of an X owner is 52 years old and the median age of an S owner is 54.

Tesla Model 3 owner demographics: gender

Next, we looked at the gender of current Tesla Model 3 owners.

Owners of the Model 3 are overwhelmingly male. Women only own 16% of Model 3s and men own 84%.

That makes the Model 3 the most “male” of the Tesla models. Males own 77% of Model S vehicles and women own 23%. Males drop to 71% for the Tesla Model X, vs. 29% female.

Tesla Model 3 owners have low percentage of home ownership

This stat surprised us.

Only 56% of current Tesla Model 3 owners own their own home. That’s significantly lower than owners of Model S or X.

The percentage of Americans who own their own home has ranged between about 64% to 67% in recent years. Tesla Model 3 owners are less likely to own their home than the general population.

Remember, the vast majority of Tesla Model 3s are found in California. In some California communities, renters outnumber home owners. That can skew the results for the entire country.

Methodology used in the Model 3 demographic analysis

This data comes from the master vehicle owner database of 175+ million car and truck owners, which includes large amounts of consumer-level data. This is then added onto vehicle records. This provides a high level of accuracy when we analyze demographic data. It avoids survey errors from self-reported data or other types of “sampling errors.” Most of the statistics cited on this analysis have a margin of error of +/-2.5% at a 95% confidence level.

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