The argument about imports against domestics ended sometime in the 1990s, and everybody moved on. The buying habits did not.
We grouped 300,000 listings by brand origin and by state. The spread between the extremes is more than fifty points wide, which is larger than almost any regional split in our data.
| State | Japanese brands | Domestic brands |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 51.0% | 24.7% |
| California | 41.9% | 35.8% |
| Washington DC | 39.7% | 35.3% |
| Massachusetts | 36.4% | 46.0% |
| Connecticut | 35.0% | 42.8% |
| Oklahoma | 23.8% | 64.0% |
| Arkansas | 21.7% | 65.7% |
| Indiana | 21.1% | 67.9% |
| Missouri | 19.1% | 65.5% |
| Michigan | 17.2% | 74.4% |
Michigan is the cleanest result in the table
Three-quarters of everything on sale in Michigan is a Ford, a Chevrolet, a Jeep, a Dodge or a GMC. Japanese brands account for one listing in six.
The explanation is not mysterious and it is not really about preference. Michigan is where these cars are made, where the plants are, and where a large number of households have someone on a payroll connected to one of them. Employee purchase programmes put domestic cars into local driveways at a discount for decades, and used listings are just those driveways emptying out ten years later.
Indiana, Missouri and Arkansas follow the same logic at lower intensity. The map of domestic share is close to a map of where the assembly plants are.
Hawaii is the mirror image, for a different reason
Hawaii clears fifty per cent Japanese, which nowhere else on the mainland approaches. There is no Toyota plant there.
What Hawaii has is the shortest shipping route to Japan of any state and a driving environment that suits small efficient cars — the same geography that produces the lowest annual mileage in the country, at 8,623 miles a year. Large domestic trucks are a poor fit for an island forty-four miles across, and the import logistics point the other way.
California and DC sit high for the ordinary reasons: dense cities, short trips, and decades of established dealer networks.
Drop to individual brands and the same map sharpens further.
| Brand | Michigan | Colorado | Hawaii | Texas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford | 26.8% | 15.1% | 7.8% | 20.0% |
| Chevrolet | 16.0% | 9.1% | 5.3% | 14.4% |
| Toyota | 4.1% | 8.6% | 20.5% | 8.5% |
| Subaru | 4.3% | 8.9% | 2.6% | 1.1% |
What this changes for a buyer
The brand mix does not make any car better or worse. It does change three practical things, and all of them matter when you are shopping rather than reading.
Choice. A Colorado buyer shopping for a Subaru picks from 8.9% of the local market; a Texan picks from 1.1%. Same car, an eightfold difference in how many examples you can stand in front of before deciding — and comparing prices needs comparables.
Servicing. Independent shops specialise in what comes through the door. In a three-quarters domestic state, the shops that know a particular Japanese platform well are fewer and further apart, and dealer labour rates are what fills the gap.
Negotiation. If three examples of the model you want exist within a hundred miles, the seller knows it. Scarcity works against you as a buyer in exactly the way abundance works for you.
The reverse case is worth taking seriously
There is an argument for buying against the local grain, and it is not sentimental. In a state where a brand is unfashionable, the cars sit longer and the asking prices soften — and the vehicle itself is identical to the one commanding a premium two states over.
That works if you can service it. It does not work if the nearest shop that will touch it is a hundred miles away, which is a phone call worth making before the purchase rather than after.
Either way the individual car decides the outcome. A free VIN check tells you what that particular one has been through, whichever side of the map it came from.
Frequently asked questions
Which state buys the most Japanese cars?
Hawaii, where Japanese brands make up 51.0% of used listings against 24.7% domestic — the only state in our data where they clear half. California follows at 41.9% and Washington DC at 39.7%.
Where are American brands strongest?
Michigan, at 74.4% domestic and just 17.2% Japanese. Indiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma all sit near or above 64%. The pattern follows manufacturing geography and the plants that employ people locally.
Does brand mix affect what I pay?
Indirectly, through supply. In a state where a brand is scarce there are fewer comparable listings, fewer independent specialists who know the platform, and often a thinner parts supply. None of that changes the car, but it changes how easy it is to shop and service.
Should I buy a car that is rare in my state?
It is workable, but check two things first: whether an independent shop nearby will take it on, and how many comparable listings exist within driving distance. A model with three local examples gives you almost no negotiating position and no easy way to judge a fair price.
Denis Kataev is a serial solopreneur and the founder of ForCar. With 15+ years in software engineering and 10 years in SEO, he builds data-driven products end to end — backed by a sharp eye for design. At ForCar he mines proprietary vehicle datasets, turning raw numbers into buying advice you can actually trust.
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