EV charging stations: How the U.S. is meeting growing demand
Americans purchased 1.2 million electric vehicles (EVs) in 2024 — the most to be sold in the U.S. in a single year.america-set-ev-sales-record-2024 Yet many Americans still have reservations about EVs. One of the biggest concerns? The lack of access to charging stations.
It's important to note that many EVs are charged at home, but public charging is still important for long-distance travel and for those whose homes don’t have this capacity.
As more and more people buy EVs, the demand for accessible charging stations is growing. In 2018, it was predicted that EV charging-energy demand could reach 53 billion kilowatt-hours by 2030 — a twenty-fold increase. Fortunately, more EV charging stations have started to pop up in the last year, and recent public and private investments in stations point to further growth.
How many EV charging stations are in the U.S.?
The number of EV charging ports more than doubled from 2021 to 2025 — rising from ~95,000 to ~208,000.ev-charging-infrastructure-growthev-charging-infrastructure-growth In the first quarter of 2023, public charging ports accounted for about 88% of all stations.
As of July 2025, California leads the country with the most charging stations by far — boasting over 60,000 station locations—followed by New York, Florida, Texas and Massachusetts.afdc-energy-counts-by-state
There are far fewer charging stations in the upper Midwest, including Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and South Dakota, probably because these states have smaller populations. Other reasons may include the region’s economic reliance on corn ethanol or the colder weather, which negatively impacts EVs’ performance.
In summary
Although a lack of EV charging stations is one of the top concerns among prospective buyers, there’s been a boom of EV charging stations across the U.S. A combination of public and private investments and industry standardization have contributed to this growth and will continue to boost expansion in the future and result in more EV charging stations to meet customer needs.
