More than 72 million Americans are projected to travel at least 50 miles from home during the July 4th holiday this year, according to AAA; a holiday period the organization said encompasses June 27 through July 5.
[Above image by AAA]
AAA said its 2026 July 4th domestic travel forecast surpasses its 2025 record of 71.8 million travelers, but the increase is smaller than recent year-over-year gains, with the number of travelers driving and flying to their destinations relatively flat in 2026 compared to 2025.
Meanwhile, travel by “other modes” – including cruises – is a category seeing the biggest year-over-year increase, the organization pointed out.
“For many Americans, traveling the week of July 4th is tradition,” said Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel, in a statement.
“The nine-day travel forecast [for the July 4th holiday] includes travelers who are vacationing all week and people just getting away for the long holiday weekend,” she noted. “While the overall number of Independence Day travelers appears to be plateauing, we’re still expecting record volumes this year.”
In terms of specific mode of travel, AAA projects 61.4 million people will travel by car over July 4th week, nearly the same number as 2025 when 61.3 million travelers took road trips. Meanwhile,AAA projects 5.85 million travelers will take domestic flights over July 4th week, a 0.2 percent increase over 2025, with air travelers making up 8 percent of the share of holiday travelers.
Finally, as previously noted,travel by other modes is seeing the biggest year-over-year growth compared to car and air travel, AAA said, with projections that 4.93 million Americans will take buses, trains, and cruises over Independence Day week, a 5.3 percent increase from 2025. That traveler volume is also expected to surpass 2019’s figure of 4.79 million travelers, due in large part to the post-COVID cruising boom, the organization said.
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