How many yellow cabs are on the road in NYC per day?

8,878 in May 2026, the latest month the TLC has published. The same monthly report counts 10,359 unique yellow vehicles that made at least one trip that month, each on the road 26.6 days on average for 8.5 hours a day, and 127,319 yellow trips per day. Reach math should start from the per-day figure, not from the medallion count.

Why do published NYC taxi counts disagree?

Because they count different things. The medallion figure (13,589) counts licences on the books, including medallions in storage or between vehicles. The licensing file (10,196) counts vehicles cleared to operate, whether or not they left the garage. The monthly indicator (8,878) counts vehicles that actually recorded trips on an average day. On an average day 4,711 of the 13,589 medallions, about 35%, are not on the street.

How many taxi medallions are there in NYC?

13,589 taxis were authorized to accept street hails according to the NYC TLC 2025 Annual Report, published January 2026 and read on 2026-09-14. That is the licence count. It is larger than the 10,196 vehicles in the current licensing file because a medallion can sit unattached to a vehicle while it changes hands, waits for a hack-up or is held in storage.

Do yellow taxis still exist in New York City?

Yes, and in numbers that still matter to a Manhattan buy: 8,878 yellow taxis on the road per day and 127,319 yellow trips per day in May 2026 (NYC TLC monthly indicators). The fleet is also recent: 71.7% of authorized vehicles are model year 2022 or newer, which is why roof hardware and in-car screens fit. High-volume for-hire vehicles are the bigger fleet at 62,526 on the road per day, but they cannot take street hails.

How many impressions does a taxi ad get per day in New York?

No city dataset publishes impressions. The 10,900 impressions per taxi per day figure that circulates online is a vendor figure published by Blue Line Media (retrieved 2026-09-14), not an audited measurement. Treat any impression number as a vendor claim until the vendor tells you how it was counted and against which of the 8,878 cabs on the road it was modelled.

Is taxi advertising bigger than rideshare in New York?

Not by fleet size. 10,196 authorized medallion taxis stand against 104,612 active for-hire vehicles in the TLC file (2026-09-13), so taxis are about 8.9% of licensed for-hire vehicles. On a given day the gap is narrower but still wide: 8,878 yellow taxis against 62,526 high-volume for-hire vehicles (NYC TLC monthly indicators, May 2026). Yellow taxis are the vehicles licensed to take street hails in the Manhattan core, which is where they concentrate and why they still carry street-level reach in the most expensive part of the city to buy.

Fleet record · Counted, not repeated · TLC file dated 2026-09-13 · Read 2026-09-14

How many taxis are there in New York City?

New York City has 13,589 taxi medallions authorized for street hails (NYC TLC 2025 Annual Report), 10,196 medallion vehicles authorized to operate (TLC licensing file, 2026-09-13) and 8,878 yellow taxis on the road per day (NYC TLC monthly indicators, May 2026). A medallion is a licence, a vehicle is a car, and only the third number carries an ad.

Medallions authorized for street hails 13,589 NYC TLC 2025 Annual Report, January 2026

Medallion vehicles authorized to operate 10,196 TLC licensing file, 2026-09-13

Yellow taxis on the road per day 8,878 NYC TLC monthly indicators, May 2026

Distinct vehicle VINs and group-by aggregates read straight from the Socrata API, no sampling and no estimate. Every row in the file carries status CUR (current). Sources: NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, Medallion Vehicles - Authorized, NYC Open Data, dataset rhe8-mgbb; TLC monthly indicators CSV (latest published month May 2026, read 2026-09-14); NYC TLC 2025 Annual Report (read 2026-09-14).

Why do published NYC taxi numbers disagree?

Because each one counts a different thing. Licences, vehicles and working cabs are three populations, and the gap between the first and the last is the part that changes a reach estimate.

Figure	What it counts	Source and date	Against cabs on the road
13,589	Medallions authorized to accept street hails. A licence, whether or not a vehicle is attached to it today.	NYC TLC 2025 Annual Report, January 2026	4,711 (35%) not on the street
10,359	Unique yellow vehicles that recorded at least one trip in the month.	NYC TLC monthly indicators, May 2026	Worked at some point, not every day
10,196	Vehicles in the current licensing file, cleared to operate. Includes cabs that stayed in the garage.	TLC licensing file, 2026-09-13	1,318 (13%) not on the street
8,878	Yellow taxis on the road on an average day. The population that carries an ad.	NYC TLC monthly indicators, May 2026	The delivery base

On an average day 87% of authorized vehicles are working. Each working vehicle is on the road 26.6 days a month for 8.5 hours a day (NYC TLC monthly indicators, May 2026). A "full fleet" plan quoted against 13,589 medallions therefore includes 4,711 cabs, about 35% of its own total, that are not on the street on a given day, before anyone asks how many of the rest carry a roof unit. The reach model on the home page caps its input at 8,878 for that reason.

What do the vendors publish, against the record?

Both figures in circulation sit above the licensing file. Neither vendor names a source or a date, which is the part that matters when the number is the first input in your reach math.

Published claim	Source	Against the licensing record
11,000 (approx.)	Blue Line Media, read 2026-09-14	7.9% higher
over 13,500	Alluvit Media, read 2026-09-14	32.4% higher
10,196	NYC TLC licensing file, 2026-09-13	Record

The "over 13,500" figure is close to the medallion count, which suggests it was read off a licence total and relabelled as taxis. The published rate table shows the same pattern with prices: the same format quoted ten times apart by four sources, none of them dated.

What is the NYC taxi fleet made of?

Three splits change how a buy behaves: accessibility build, who drives the medallion, and how old the vehicle is. All three are read from the same 10,196-row file.

Accessibility build

Wheelchair accessible (WAV)	6,297	61.8%
Standard vehicle	3,899	38.2%

Wheelchair accessible vehicles are the majority of the fleet. They are taller, which changes sightlines for a roof unit and matters if your creative depends on being read from a sidewalk rather than from a car behind.

Medallion type

Named driver	6,179	60.6%
Owner must drive	4,016	39.4%
Not stated	1	0.0%

The split matters because hours on street, not vehicle count, is what a daypart-weighted plan is really buying. Ask a vendor how many shifts per day the vehicles on your buy run, and get it in writing rather than inferred from the medallion type.

How old are New York's taxis?

71.7% of authorized vehicles are model year 2022 or newer. 14.1% are 2019 or older. A recent fleet is why roof hardware fits and why in-car screens are common.

2026 563
2025 1,877
2024 1,427
2023 1,623
2022 1,818
2021 544
2020 906
2019 665
2018 177
2017 139
2016 343
2015 89
2014 25

What does this file not tell you?

Authorized is not the same as on the road tonight. The licensing file counts vehicles cleared to operate; it does not publish shift hours, garage utilisation, or how many of those vehicles carry advertising hardware at any given moment. The TLC publishes the on-road figure separately, and it is the number a delivery estimate should be built on: 8,878 yellow taxis on the road on an average day (NYC TLC monthly indicators, May 2026, read 2026-09-14).

The licensing file also publishes no impression figure, which is why the 10,900 impressions per taxi per day number in circulation is a vendor claim rather than a measurement. Ask any vendor which of the 8,878 they can actually deliver, in which neighbourhoods, and how they counted the eyes. The campaign archive shows what those cabs look like carrying a roof unit; the format notes explain why a wrap and a digital top reach different people from the same vehicle.

Published rates, formats and the reach model · What a budget buys out of the on-road fleet · NYC taxi advertising examples

Frequently asked questions

How many taxis are there in New York City?: Three numbers answer it and they are not interchangeable. 13,589 medallions are authorized to accept street hails (NYC TLC 2025 Annual Report, published January 2026). 10,196 medallion vehicles were authorized to operate on 2026-09-13, counted as distinct VINs in the TLC licensing file on NYC Open Data. 8,878 yellow taxis were actually on the road on an average day in May 2026 (NYC TLC monthly indicators). Vendors publish 11,000 and "over 13,500"; both sit above the licensing record.
How many yellow cabs are on the road in NYC per day?: 8,878 in May 2026, the latest month the TLC has published. The same monthly report counts 10,359 unique yellow vehicles that made at least one trip that month, each on the road 26.6 days on average for 8.5 hours a day, and 127,319 yellow trips per day. Reach math should start from the per-day figure, not from the medallion count.
Why do published NYC taxi counts disagree?: Because they count different things. The medallion figure (13,589) counts licences on the books, including medallions in storage or between vehicles. The licensing file (10,196) counts vehicles cleared to operate, whether or not they left the garage. The monthly indicator (8,878) counts vehicles that actually recorded trips on an average day. On an average day 4,711 of the 13,589 medallions, about 35%, are not on the street.
How many taxi medallions are there in NYC?: 13,589 taxis were authorized to accept street hails according to the NYC TLC 2025 Annual Report, published January 2026 and read on 2026-09-14. That is the licence count. It is larger than the 10,196 vehicles in the current licensing file because a medallion can sit unattached to a vehicle while it changes hands, waits for a hack-up or is held in storage.
Do yellow taxis still exist in New York City?: Yes, and in numbers that still matter to a Manhattan buy: 8,878 yellow taxis on the road per day and 127,319 yellow trips per day in May 2026 (NYC TLC monthly indicators). The fleet is also recent: 71.7% of authorized vehicles are model year 2022 or newer, which is why roof hardware and in-car screens fit. High-volume for-hire vehicles are the bigger fleet at 62,526 on the road per day, but they cannot take street hails.
How many impressions does a taxi ad get per day in New York?: No city dataset publishes impressions. The 10,900 impressions per taxi per day figure that circulates online is a vendor figure published by Blue Line Media (retrieved 2026-09-14), not an audited measurement. Treat any impression number as a vendor claim until the vendor tells you how it was counted and against which of the 8,878 cabs on the road it was modelled.
Is taxi advertising bigger than rideshare in New York?: Not by fleet size. 10,196 authorized medallion taxis stand against 104,612 active for-hire vehicles in the TLC file (2026-09-13), so taxis are about 8.9% of licensed for-hire vehicles. On a given day the gap is narrower but still wide: 8,878 yellow taxis against 62,526 high-volume for-hire vehicles (NYC TLC monthly indicators, May 2026). Yellow taxis are the vehicles licensed to take street hails in the Manhattan core, which is where they concentrate and why they still carry street-level reach in the most expensive part of the city to buy.

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A person replies with the published ranges for those dates and which sellers hold the inventory. This site publishes no rate card; every figure on it is a third-party published number, dated.

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