List of United States light rail systems

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The following is a list of all light rail systems in the United States. Also included are some of the urban streetcar/trolley systems that provide regular public transit service (operating year-round and at least five days per week), ones with data available from the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) Ridership Reports. This list does not include statistics for metro/rapid transit systems (see: the List of United States rapid transit systems for those). Daily and annual ridership figures are based on "average weekday unlinked passenger trips" (where transfers between lines are counted as two separate passenger "boardings" or "trips"). References with supplementary (non-APTA) ridership figures are included in the System column.

List

More information System, City/area served ...
System City/area
served		 Annual ridership 2025[1] Avg. ridership
weekdays, Q4 2025[2]		 System
length		 Avg. boardings
per mile weekdays, Q4 2025		 Opened Stations Lines Last
expanded
1 Metro Rail light rail:[a]
A, C, E, & K lines		 Los Angeles 47,773,700 147,500 103.3 mi (166.2 km)[3] 1,428 1990[3] 88[3] 4[3] 2025[3]
2 MBTA light rail:[a]
Green Line & Mattapan Line[b]		 Boston 42,065,000 117,200 26 mi (42 km)[4] 4,508 1897[5] 74[4] 5[4] 2022
3 San Diego Trolley[c]
(incl. Silver Line)[6][b]		 San Diego 41,069,900 124,000 65 mi (105 km)[7] 1,908 1981[7] 62[7] 5[6][7] 2021[7]
4 Link[c]
(incl. T Line)		 Seattle 37,763,800 108,100 63 mi (101.39 km)[8] 1,971 2009[9] 50[8] 3[9] 2026[8]
5 Muni Metro[a][10]
(incl. E & F)[11][12][b]		 San Francisco 34,229,500 105,400 35.7 mi (57.5 km)[13] 2,952 1912[14] 152[12][13] 9[11][13] 2022[15]
6 NJ Transit:[a]
HBLR, Newark Light Rail, River LINE[16]		 Jersey City, Newark, Camden-Trenton 22,789,400 62,400[d] 59.9 mi (96.4 km)[16] 1,042 1935 24[17] 3[17] 2011
7 MAX Light Rail[c] Portland 22,061,900 62,500 59.7 mi (96.1 km)[18] 1,047 1986[18] 94 5 2015[18]
8 DART rail[c] Dallas 21,611,600 67,400 119 mi (192 km)[19] 725 1996[20] 73[19] 5[21] 2025[20]
9 SEPTA Metro:[22][a]
T, G,[b] & D		 Philadelphia 15,626,500 55,800 68.4 mi (110.1 km)[23][24] 816 1906 >100[23] 3[23][24] 2005
10 TRAX (UTA) and S Line[c] Salt Lake City 13,279,100 43,400 46.8 mi (75.3 km)[25][26] 927 1999[27] 57[28] 4[28] 2013
11 METRO Light Rail[c] Minneapolis-St. Paul 12,848,200 34,800 21.8 mi (35.1 km)[29][30] 1,596 2004[29] 37[29][30] 2[29][30] 2014[30]
12 METRORail Houston 12,651,100 35,100 23.8 mi (38.3 km)[31][32] 1,475 2004[32] 44[31] 3[31] 2017[31]
13 Valley Metro Rail & Valley Metro Streetcar[33] Phoenix 11,100,300 35,300 41.5 mi (66.8 km)[34] 1,185 2008[35] 62[36] 3[35] 2025[34]
14 Denver RTD:[c]
D, E, H, R, L, & W Lines		 Denver 10,568,000 38,400 58.5 mi (94.1 km)[37] 656 1994[38] 62[37] 6 2019[39]
15 MetroLink St. Louis 7,665,000 21,800 46 mi (74 km)[40] 474 1993[41] 37[40] 2[42] 2006[43]
16 SacRT light rail Sacramento 7,410,000 22,100 42.9 mi (69.0 km)[44] 515 1987[44] 53[44] 3[44] 2015[44]
17 CATS:
Blue and Gold lines		 Charlotte 6,403,100 18,500 20.8 mi (33.5 km)[45][46] 889 2007[47] 43[45][46] 2[45] 2021[48]
18 Baltimore Light RailLink[a] Baltimore 5,015,100 14,500 33 mi (53 km)[49] 439 1992 33[49] 3[49] 1997
19 VTA light rail[c] San Jose 4,469,300 14,500 42.2 mi (67.9 km)[50] 344 1987[50] 62[50] 3[50] 2005[50]
20 RTA Streetcars
in New Orleans[b]		 New Orleans 3,136,500 10,400 26.9 mi (43.3 km)[51] 387 1835 n/a[e] 5[51] 2018[51][52]
21 Pittsburgh Light Rail Pittsburgh 3,104,400 8,500[d] 26.2 mi (42.2 km)[53] 325 1984[f] 53[53] 3[53] 2012[53]
22 Portland Streetcar[g] Portland 2,900,000[54] 8,089[54] 9.35 mi (15.05 km)[55] 834 2001[55] 76[55] 3[55] 2015[56]
23 Buffalo Metro Rail Buffalo 2,453,100 8,900 6.4 mi (10.3 km) 1,391 1984 14[57] 1[57] 1986
24 KC Streetcar Kansas City 2,155,081[58] 5,908[58] 5.7 mi (9.2 km) 771 2016 18[59] 1 2025
25 SPRINTER[c][60] Oceanside 1,684,400 4,600 22 mi (35 km)[61] 209 2008[61] 15[61] 1[61] —
26 Sun Link Tucson 1,535,900 4,500 3.9 mi (6.3 km)[62] 1,154 2014 22[62] 1[62] —
27 Seattle Streetcar[c] Seattle 1,519,100 4,400 3.8 mi (6.1 km) 1,158 2007 21 2 2016
28 TECO Line Streetcar[b] Tampa 1,330,932 [63] 3,000[d] 2.7 mi (4.3 km) 1,173 2002 11 1 2010
29 Connector[64] Cincinnati 1,198,859[65] 3,087[d][65] 3.6 mi (5.8 km)[66] 1,036 2016[67] 18[66] 1 —
30 Q-Line Detroit 1,003,975[68] 3,185[68] 3.3 mi (5.3 km) 745 2017 20 1 —
31 Tide Light Rail Norfolk 865,500 2,300 7.4 mi (11.9 km)[69] 311 2011[70] 11[69] 1[69] —
32 DC Streetcar Washington, D.C. 835,900 2,600 2.4 mi (3.9 km) 1,083 2016 8 1 —
33 RTA Rapid Transit:[h]
Blue, Green, and Waterfront lines		 Cleveland 757,700 2,400 15.3 mi (24.6 km)[71] 157 1913[72] 34[71] 2[71] 1996[72]
34 The Hop Milwaukee 532,460 1,311 2.1 mi (3.4 km) 624 2018 21[73] 2[73] 2023
35 Dallas Streetcar Dallas 523,046[74] 1,923[d] 2.45 mi (3.94 km) 784 2015 6 1 2016
36 El Paso Streetcar[b] El Paso 396,200 1,500 4.8 mi (7.7 km) 313 2018 27[75] 2[75] —
37 Oklahoma City Streetcar Oklahoma City 288,517 790 5.6 mi (9.0 km) 141 2018 22 2 —
38 Atlanta Streetcar Atlanta 218,500 0 2.7 mi (4.3 km) 0 2014 12 1 —
39 MATA Trolley[b] Memphis 0 0[i] 2 mi (3.2 km) 400 1993 11 1 2004
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Gallery

Systems excluded from ridership table

The following light rail systems have been excluded from the ridership table above:

More information System, Largest city served ...
System Largest city served Opened Route length Reason(s) for exclusion from Ridership table
San Francisco cable car system San Francisco, CA 1873 5.1 mi (8.2 km) APTA does not provide ridership figures for this system.
Lowell National Historical Park Trolley System Lowell, MA 1984[76] 1.2 mi (1.9 km)[77] Primarily a tourist system (does not operate daily, year-round). APTA does not provide ridership figures.
Galveston Island Trolley Galveston, TX 1988[78] 6.8 mi (10.9 km)[78] Primarily a tourist system. APTA does not provide ridership figures.
Kenosha Streetcars Kenosha, WI 2000[79] 2.0 mi (3.2 km)[79] Primarily a tourist system. APTA does not provide ridership figures.
Metro Streetcar Little Rock, AR 2004[80] 3.4 mi (5.5 km)[80] Primarily a tourist system. APTA does not provide ridership figures.
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See also

Notes

  1. [a]
    This system also includes rapid transit lines (see List of metro systems), and connections to a commuter rail system; the ridership figures and statistics presented here represent only the light rail portion of the system.
  2. [b]
    This line or system is operated using heritage streetcars.
  3. [c]
    This system also has available connections to a commuter rail system; the ridership figures and statistics presented here represent only the light rail portion of the system.
  4. [d]
    This is the Average Daily Ridership figure, not an "Average Weekday Ridership" figure – it is averaged from the Total Ridership figure for this system.
  5. [e]
    Uses streetcar-like surface stops.
  6. [f]
    As current incarnation of light rail.
  7. [g]
    This system is owned by the City of Portland, which is not a member of APTA, and its ridership figures are not included in the APTA statistics for Portland.
  8. [h]
    This system also has a heavy rail rapid transit/metro portion (see List of metro systems); the ridership figures and statistics presented here represent only the light rail portion of the system.
  9. [i]
    This system has been suspended since August 18, 2024 due to maintenance issues.

References

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