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In short: There were 180,621 active TLC driver licenses on 2026-10-12. Far fewer people drive in any given month: in 2025, an average of 83,299 drivers a month made at least one app-based trip, 13,297 a yellow taxi trip, and only 627 a green cab trip. Yellow taxi drivers who are active spend the most time with passengers: about 23 days a month and 7.5 hours a day with trips. Among new applicants, the TLC exam and medical form are the items most often still missing.
TLC issues one driver license that covers taxis, for-hire vehicles and street hail liveries. This page combines TLC's daily license lists, its monthly industry indicators and its live application tracker, all published on NYC Open Data.
Licenses in force today
TLC publishes separate "active driver" lists for FHV, medallion and SHL drivers, but on the day we checked they had the same number of rows and the same license numbers in spot checks. So 180,621 is the total of active TLC driver licenses. Don't add the lists together. Vehicles and bases are covered in licensed vehicle statistics.
Who is actually driving: active drivers by industry
| Industry | 2015 | 2019 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| High-volume FHV (app-based) | 21,910 | 85,555 | 83,299 |
| Yellow taxi | 30,629 | 20,995 | 13,297 |
| Black car | 5,218 | 6,143 | 12,007 |
| Livery | 8,992 | 8,011 | 9,616 |
| Luxury limousine | 2,459 | 2,306 | 1,714 |
| Green cab | 7,214 | 3,269 | 627 |
"High-volume FHV" means app companies licensed by TLC as High-Volume For-Hire Services, those dispatching more than 10,000 trips a day in the city. TLC lists Lyft and Uber (TLC).
Three trends stand out:
- App driving recovered; yellow taxis only partly did. Monthly active app drivers are back to about 97% of 2019. Yellow taxi drivers are at 63% of 2019, though up 82% from 2021.
- Black car nearly doubled from 2019 (6,143) to 2025 (12,007).
- Green cabs have nearly disappeared from the data, down from 7,214 active drivers a month in 2015 to 627.
Even the biggest industry's monthly active count (83,299) is less than half of the 180,621 licenses in force. Many license holders drive part-time, seasonally or not at all in a given month. The data can't say how many are fully inactive.
How much active drivers drive
Yellow taxi drivers show the longest days: 23.1 days a month and 7.5 hours a day with trips. App drivers follow at 21.8 days and 6.4 hours. These are hours with a trip in them, not total time at work. Time spent waiting or driving to a pickup isn't counted.
Long days matter for compliance. TLC rule 80-14(f) limits drivers to 10 hours of carrying passengers in any 24-hour period (the count resets after 8 straight hours with no passengers), and to 60 hours in a Monday-to-Sunday week. Summonses under the daily limit are covered on the 80-14(f)(2) page.
New applicants: what's holding them up
On the day we checked, 2,967 applications were incomplete. The TLC driver exam (85.6%) and the medical clearance form (81.1%) were the most common gaps, then a copy of the DMV license (74.2%) and the drug test (62.5%).
TLC's license page lists the steps: apply online, take a drug test, get fingerprinted and photographed, complete the education requirements (a 3-day TLC course, passenger assistance and WAV training, the TLC exam, a short sex trafficking awareness video, and a 6-hour defensive driving course unless you took one in the past 3 years), and clear outstanding parking and traffic tickets. Everything must be done within 90 days of applying or the application is denied. Our how to get a TLC license guide walks through each step, and the drug test and WAV training guides cover two common gaps.
What this data can and cannot tell you
It can tell you how many licenses are in force, how many drivers make trips in each industry each month, how much they drive, and where incomplete applications are stuck today.
It cannot tell you:
- Exactly how many people drive, because one driver can appear in several industries.
- Earnings. None of these datasets show pay.
- Total working time. Hours count only hours with a trip.
- Approval rates or processing times. The application tracker drops old records.
- Why green cab or yellow taxi activity changed.
Frequently asked questions
How many TLC driver licenses are there?
TLC's active-license lists showed 180,621 active TLC driver licenses on 2026-10-12. The same people appear on the FHV, medallion and SHL driver lists, so that number is the total, not one industry.
How many Uber and Lyft drivers are there in NYC?
TLC's industry indicators show an average of 83,299 drivers a month made at least one high-volume (app-based) trip in 2025. That counts active drivers, not license holders, and one driver can also work in other industries.
How many yellow cab drivers are active?
On average 13,297 drivers a month made at least one yellow taxi trip in 2025, up from 7,313 in 2021 but well below 30,629 in 2015.
What do incomplete TLC applications usually still need?
In TLC's live tracker on 2026-10-12, 85.6% of the 2,967 incomplete new-driver applications still needed the TLC driver exam and 81.1% the medical clearance form. One application can be missing several items.
How long do I have to finish a TLC license application?
TLC says all education requirements and application steps must be completed within 90 days from the date of your application, or the application will be denied.
Sources
Last reviewed against the official sources on .
- NYC Open Data: TLC Industry Indicators (v6kb-cqej) data.cityofnewyork.us
- NYC Open Data: TLC active license lists data.cityofnewyork.us
- NYC Open Data: TLC New Driver Application Status (dpec-ucu7) data.cityofnewyork.us
- TLC: Get a TLC Driver's License nyc.gov
- TLC: High-Volume For-Hire Services nyc.gov
Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll check it against the official source.
TLC Help is not a law firm and is not affiliated with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission or OATH. Explanations on this site are general information, not legal advice. Legal representation is provided by independent attorneys and OATH-registered representatives in our network.