Echo chamber, indeed. There are over 200 million cars in the USA vs fewer than 20 thousand Teslas. The Teslas are newer, so less likely to be kept in garages, but because of their range they also are less likely to be on the road for 10 hours a day.

So, I would expect that, on average, on the order of 1:10,000 cars on the road would be a Tesla.

If people say way more of them in California, there must be spots where people see fewer.