A method for determining a state of a roadway of a vehicle. A first distance value of a measurement coordinate to a first tire characteristic curve associated with a first state of the roadway is ascertained. A second distance value of the measurement coordinate to a second tire characteristic curve associated with a second state of the roadway is ascertained. The measurement coordinate represents a measurement carried out using at least one vehicle sensor of a presently utilized traction between wheels of the vehicle and the roadway and a wheel slip of the wheels, while the first tire characteristic curve and the second tire characteristic curve are based on a model function for the modeled representation of the traction as a function of the wheel slip. An output signal representing the state of the roadway is output using the first distance value and the second distance value.