From Texas’s 85 mph to Hawaii’s 60 — see your state’s maximum speed on every class of road, straight from the statute.
Speed Limits by State
Pick your state to see its maximum speed limits for cars — rural and urban interstates, other highways, and residential streets — plus the truck limits where they differ. Figures are the statutory maximums or defaults from each state’s own law; a posted sign always governs the road you are on.
General information only, not legal advice. Figures checked against each state’s statute in November 2026. Some states set most limits by posting rather than by statute — the result says so where that applies. When a sign and this page disagree, the sign wins.
Maximums, defaults and posted signs
Three different ideas hide inside the phrase “speed limit”. A maximum is the fastest a state allows anywhere on that class of road. A default is the limit that applies on a road with no sign. And the posted sign on the road you are actually driving beats both. This lookup shows the statutory maximums and defaults for cars — and where a state sets its limits road by road instead of in the statute, the result says “posted” rather than inventing a number.
Why the map looks so uneven
Speed limits are pure state law, and the states disagree. Texas posts 85 mph on one toll road — the fastest legal speed in America — while Hawaii caps every road at 60. Western states run 75–80 on rural interstates; the Northeast clusters at 65–70. A few states still split day and night (Montana, Rhode Island), and a handful keep lower limits for heavy trucks. Every figure here was checked against the statute itself in November 2026, and each result shows its citation.
Speed limit questions, answered
What is the highest speed limit in the United States?
85 mph, on the SH 130 toll road south of Austin, Texas — a stretch of highway built and signed for that speed. Texas, and a band of western states including Montana, South Dakota, Utah and North Dakota, post 80 mph on rural interstates. The lowest state maximum is Hawaii’s 60 mph.
What if there is no speed limit sign?
Every state has a statutory default that applies on unposted roads — most often 55 mph on highways outside built-up areas and 25 or 30 in residential streets. A handful of states, including Tennessee and Mississippi, set residential defaults locally instead. The lookup above shows your state’s defaults, and the “basic speed law” still applies everywhere: never drive faster than conditions allow.
What is the difference between an absolute and a prima facie limit?
An absolute limit is a hard ceiling — one mile per hour over it is a violation. A prima facie limit (used in states like Arizona, Massachusetts and New Hampshire) creates a presumption: driving above it is evidence your speed was unreasonable, but the circumstances can be argued. Most states use absolute limits on interstates.
Do trucks really have lower speed limits?
In a few states, yes — California’s 55 mph for trucks with three or more axles is the best known, and Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, Virginia and Washington also set lower limits for heavy vehicles somewhere in their law. Texas abolished its truck split in 2011; most states now post one limit for everyone.
Why do some limits here say “posted” instead of a number?
Some states — Nevada, Oklahoma, Vermont and Rhode Island among them — set most limits administratively and post them road by road, rather than fixing every number in the statute. Where that is the system, the result says so instead of inventing a statewide figure, and the note gives the figure the state’s own handbook or practice uses.
How current are these limits?
Each row was checked against the state’s statute in November 2026, and the citation is shown with the result. Limits do move: North Dakota raised its interstate maximum to 80 in 2025, and Missouri raised its cap to 75 in 2026 — though Missouri’s new signs roll out segment by segment, so the posted sign still governs there.
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