How Many Idahoans are Planning on Traveling this Thanksgiving?

Traveling around any holiday is a risky game. You could get the road all to yourself if you leave at the right time but most likely you will be stuck in constant traffic with millions of other American drivers.

How Busy Will Idaho Roads Be on Thanksgiving

Statistically, Thanksgiving is a busy time for travel. According to data from Statista, 2005 was the busiest year with 58.6 million travelers in the United States. 2019 was the second busiest and 2023 is expected to come in a close third as around 55 million Americans are expected to hit the road for a journey of more than 50 miles for Thanksgiving, according to AAA. That number is up by about a million from last year.

Find more statistics at Statista

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Of those 55 million people, AAA says nearly 314,000 of them will be Idahoans traveling to other states or other towns in the state during Thanksgiving. They define the Thanksgiving travel period as November 22nd (Wednesday) through the 26th (Sunday). NACS (the Advanced Convenience and Fuel Retailing website) expects an additional 4.7 million will do their travel by airplane.

Are you planning on any travel for the holiday? Most websites say that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving between 2 and 6 PM will be the busiest time to be on the road. AAA shares more detailed info for specific metro locations on their Newsroom page.

RELATED STORY: Christmas in the Nighttime Sky in Twin Falls

If you are heading anywhere, we hope it’s in or near Twin Falls so that you can be part of the annual Christmas in the Nighttime Sky event on the Friday after turkey day.