Main Street or Second Street: which name is on more streets?
Our counts from the Census Bureau's TIGER/Line Feature Names files: 8,261,451 streets in 3,231 counties.
Our take written by All Streets
In the Census files, 22,047 streets have the base name Main, 26,046 have 2nd and 839 have Second. The state table puts the Main count beside the Second and 2nd count for every state and DC.
The count follows the Census NAME field exactly as stored. N Main St, Main Ave and Main St count under Main when the direction and suffix are recorded in their own fields, and a NAME stored as N Main counts under N Main.
Our reading of the counts on this page. It adds no facts of its own.
| Base name | Streets | Share of all streets |
|---|---|---|
| Main | 22,047 | 0.27% |
| Second | 839 | 0.01% |
| 2nd | 26,046 | 0.32% |
| First | 950 | 0.01% |
| 1st | 22,673 | 0.27% |
| Third | 804 | 0.01% |
| 3rd | 25,489 | 0.31% |
| Park | 20,042 | 0.24% |
| Oak | 16,807 | 0.20% |
| Pine | 14,435 | 0.17% |
| State | Main | Second + 2nd | More streets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 344 | 864 | Second + 2nd |
| Alaska | 66 | 122 | Second + 2nd |
| Arizona | 183 | 461 | Second + 2nd |
| Arkansas | 519 | 483 | Main |
| California | 590 | 812 | Second + 2nd |
| Colorado | 288 | 480 | Second + 2nd |
| Connecticut | 337 | 55 | Main |
| Delaware | 48 | 59 | Second + 2nd |
| District of Columbia | 1 | 27 | Second + 2nd |
| Florida | 323 | 2,191 | Second + 2nd |
| Georgia | 435 | 411 | Main |
| Hawaii | 9 | 15 | Second + 2nd |
| Idaho | 200 | 361 | Second + 2nd |
| Illinois | 1,223 | 1,087 | Main |
| Indiana | 714 | 553 | Main |
| Iowa | 798 | 1,499 | Second + 2nd |
| Kansas | 568 | 810 | Second + 2nd |
| Kentucky | 427 | 246 | Main |
| Louisiana | 281 | 319 | Second + 2nd |
| Maine | 473 | 51 | Main |
| Maryland | 155 | 124 | Main |
| Massachusetts | 598 | 121 | Main |
| Michigan | 545 | 605 | Second + 2nd |
| Minnesota | 760 | 1,910 | Second + 2nd |
| Mississippi | 327 | 275 | Main |
| Missouri | 824 | 739 | Main |
| Montana | 238 | 553 | Second + 2nd |
| Nebraska | 303 | 588 | Second + 2nd |
| Nevada | 67 | 97 | Second + 2nd |
| New Hampshire | 211 | 44 | Main |
| New Jersey | 349 | 388 | Second + 2nd |
| New Mexico | 144 | 176 | Second + 2nd |
| New York | 1,057 | 502 | Main |
| North Carolina | 475 | 414 | Main |
| North Dakota | 442 | 1,256 | Second + 2nd |
| Ohio | 1,073 | 629 | Main |
| Oklahoma | 722 | 909 | Second + 2nd |
| Oregon | 257 | 561 | Second + 2nd |
| Pennsylvania | 1,220 | 1,123 | Main |
| Rhode Island | 72 | 29 | Main |
| South Carolina | 338 | 160 | Main |
| South Dakota | 366 | 565 | Second + 2nd |
| Tennessee | 435 | 213 | Main |
| Texas | 1,180 | 1,456 | Second + 2nd |
| Utah | 210 | 71 | Main |
| Vermont | 171 | 18 | Main |
| Virginia | 299 | 228 | Main |
| Washington | 296 | 1,040 | Second + 2nd |
| West Virginia | 326 | 321 | Main |
| Wisconsin | 647 | 672 | Second + 2nd |
| Wyoming | 93 | 178 | Second + 2nd |
Our count: Main is on more streets in 23 of the 50 states and DC, Second and 2nd combined in 28.
Rows from the Census files
Verbatim field values from the county Feature Names files behind this page's counts. Each is one edge record; our count treats each LINEARID as one street.
| File (county) | TLID | LINEARID | FULLNAME | NAME | PREDIRABRV | PRETYPABRV | SUFTYPABRV | SUFDIRABRV | MTFCC | PAFLAG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tl_2025_26033_featnames.zip Chippewa County, Michigan | 130566142 | 1101000412287 | Main St | Main | St | S1400 | P | |||
| tl_2025_08071_featnames.zip Las Animas County, Colorado | 112745887 | 1101007257704 | Main St | Main | St | S1400 | P | |||
| tl_2025_05005_featnames.zip Baxter County, Arkansas | 2956845 | 1101008271895 | Main St | Main | St | S1400 | P | |||
| tl_2025_26033_featnames.zip Chippewa County, Michigan | 130548836 | 1101000367829 | 2nd St E | 2nd | St | E | S1400 | P | ||
| tl_2025_08071_featnames.zip Las Animas County, Colorado | 112752417 | 1101007256541 | E 2nd St | 2nd | E | St | S1400 | P |
Our checker re-read these rows from census.gov on October 14.
How we counted
Method note Our count of Census linear features (streets, as defined in the method note): one street is one LINEARID that carries a primary name (PAFLAG P) on at least one edge classed S1200 or S1400, with a non-blank NAME, across 3,234 of the 3,235 county files; the file for St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands was answered by the Census server with a "Request Rejected" page and is left out. A name counts once per LINEARID, so a road the Census splits into several linear features counts more than once. Full method and definitions →
The MAF/TIGER System breaks/ends linear elemental features when the feature name changes. All spelling differences result in a new feature. Features will also break at county boundaries, changes in primary/alternate designation, MTFCC, and gaps in the geometry.
More questions
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- The 100 most common street names in the U.S.
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- County Road, Calle, Via: street types that come first
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- Streets named for presidents' surnames
- Oak, Pine, Maple: tree names on U.S. streets
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- The longest street names in the Census files
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- Streets with Martin Luther King Jr.'s name
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- Calle, Camino, Paseo: selected Spanish street types
- Streets with a County Road or County Highway prefix
- Street names found in just one county
- Second Street or 2nd Street? Spelled or digits, by state
- Main arteries and local streets: the two road classes counted