What each mile costs you: $0.52, ranging from $0.38 to $0.71.
What each mile costs you
low confidence
$0.52Full cost, all running expenses spread over 13,500 miles a year
$0.38 lowhigh $0.71
What makes up the typical figure
Depreciation$0.18
Fuel$0.13
Maintenance, repairs, and tires$0.10
Insurance$0.09
Everything else$0.01
United States average
Assumptions 2026.07.1
Why low: no state was resolved, so national averages were used; the modeled range spans about 63% of the typical value.
Quick facts
Cents per mile
52.1 ¢
Marginal cost of one more mile
$0.23Fuel and wear only — the costs that genuinely change when you drive further.
Annual driving cost
$7,027
Cost of a 100 mile trip
$52
IRS business rate
$0.76The IRS business standard mileage rate is an all-in figure covering fuel, maintenance, tires, insurance, registration, and depreciation. It is a national average built for tax administration rather than a prediction for any one vehicle, but it is the closest thing to an official per-mile driving cost the federal government publishes, so calculators here show it beside their own result as a sanity check.
Share that is fuel
25.8%
Cost breakdown
Estimated cost of each component, with low, typical, and high values.
Component
Low
Typical
High
FuelEnergy$4.157/gal ÷ 31 MPG.
$0.12
$0.13
$0.16
Maintenance, repairs, and tiresOther4 to 9 years old. An assumption band, not a published statistic.
$0.07
$0.10
$0.15
InsuranceOther$1,282 a year spread over 13,500 miles.
$0.07
$0.09
$0.14
Registration and feesPermit$165 a year spread over 13,500 miles.
$0.01
$0.01
$0.02
DepreciationOther11% of $22,000 a year — about $2,420 — spread over 13,500 miles.
$0.13
$0.18
$0.24
What each mile costs you
$0.38
$0.52
$0.71
The low and high columns above will not add up to the headline range. Each line has its own uncertainty, and every line landing at its worst case at the same time is unlikely, so the total combines them as partially independent rather than summing the extremes.
What moved your estimate
•
Full cost basis
This spreads the fixed costs of keeping a vehicle over the miles you drive, so it answers "what does driving cost me overall". One extra mile only costs you about 23.4 cents — switch to the marginal basis when you are deciding whether a particular trip is worth it.
↓
Against the IRS rate — decreases the estimate
The IRS allows 76.0 cents a mile for business driving. Your figure is 32% below that. The federal rate is a deliberately generous national average covering every vehicle and every state, so most ordinary cars come in under it.
How this number was produced+
Fuel per mile$4.157/gal ÷ 31 MPG13.4 cents
Upkeep per mile4 to 9 years old10.0 cents
Fixed costs per mileannual fixed costs ÷ 13,500 mi28.6 cents
Total per milefuel + upkeep + fixed52.1 cents
Adjustments applied
Midsize sedan×1.00
31 MPG against a 31 MPG baseline.
Fuel price×1.00
United States average of $4.157/gal (EIA, Week of 2026-09-07).
4 to 9 years old×1.00
10 cents a mile against a mid-life baseline of 10.
Miles to spread fixed costs over×1.00
13,500 miles a year against a 13,500 mile baseline. Fewer miles means a higher per-mile figure for the same fixed costs.
Notes and sources3 notes, 3 sources
Worth knowing
Two different questions hide behind "cost per mile". The full basis spreads everything you spend on the vehicle across the miles you drive, which is right for budgeting and for comparing vehicles. The marginal basis counts only what changes when you drive further, which is right for deciding whether a particular trip is worth taking. Neither is more correct — they answer different questions, and using the wrong one leads to bad decisions in both directions.
Maintenance and tire figures are documented assumptions rather than published statistics, because no federal agency tracks them per mile. They are averages across years, not predictions for any particular month.
The IRS business standard mileage rate shown alongside is the closest thing to an official per-mile figure the federal government publishes. It is deliberately generous, built to cover a wide range of vehicles nationally for tax administration, so an ordinary well-maintained car usually costs less than it allows.
Sources
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Weekly Retail Gasoline and Diesel Prices — regular grade, all formulations, by region and selected stateprimaryWeek of 2026-09-07retrieved 2026-09-11
National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 2023 Auto Insurance Database Average Premium Supplement, Table 4 — Average Expenditure by Stateprimary2023retrieved 2026-07-31
Fuel economy anchored to the U.S. EPA Automotive Trends Report (model year 2024 real-world values); ownership cost components compiled from IRS Notice 2026-10 and IR-2026-29 standard mileage rates, U.S. DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center guidance, and editorial baselines where no agency publishes a figuremixed2026retrieved 2026-07-31
One counts everything the vehicle costs you, spread across the miles you drive — right for budgeting or comparing vehicles. The other counts only what an extra mile adds — right for deciding whether a trip is worth driving. This calculator gives you either, itemised, so you can see exactly what is in it.
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Methodology
How this calculator works
Two costs, not one
Fuel and wear scale with distance: drive twice as far and you pay twice as much. Insurance, registration, and most depreciation do not — they accrue with time and ownership, not with miles.
The full basis divides everything by the miles you drive, which is what you want when comparing two vehicles or working out an annual budget. The marginal basis counts only the distance-driven costs, which is what you want when deciding whether to drive somewhere, because the fixed costs are already spent either way.
The gap between them is large. A typical car might cost 55 cents a mile on the full basis and 21 cents marginally. Using the full figure to decide on a single trip overstates its cost by more than double.
Why low mileage looks expensive
Drive 5,000 miles a year instead of 20,000 and your full cost per mile roughly doubles, even though nothing about the vehicle changed. The fixed costs are identical; there are simply fewer miles to divide them across.
This is not a quirk of the arithmetic — it is a real signal. A vehicle driven very little is expensive per mile because ownership itself is the cost, which is exactly the case where car sharing, rentals, or going without start to make financial sense.
Location and data
Where the numbers come from
Location is optional, and we only ask for a ZIP code or a state — never a street address. A ZIP code is matched to its state using published postal prefix ranges, and that state is used to look up labor and price rows in the tables below. If you leave it blank, or your ZIP cannot be matched, the estimate falls back to a national average and says so on the result.
Nothing you enter is transmitted or stored. The calculation runs entirely in your browser, and the only place your inputs appear is in the page URL, so you can bookmark or share a result if you choose to.
primaryWeek of 2026-09-07v2026.09.1
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Weekly Retail Gasoline and Diesel Prices — regular grade, all formulations, by region and selected state
EIA publishes weekly retail gasoline prices for the nation, for each Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) sub-region, and for nine individual states. States EIA does not publish separately take their PADD sub-region price, which is the finest published geography available; every result discloses which of the two applied. Prices are a weekly snapshot and move faster than any other figure on this site, so every calculator that uses them lets you type in the price you actually paid.
primary2023v2026.07.1
National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 2023 Auto Insurance Database Average Premium Supplement, Table 4 — Average Expenditure by State
Average expenditure is what insured drivers actually paid per insured vehicle, not a quoted premium: it already reflects the mix of coverages people buy in that state, including drivers who carry liability only. It is the most recent year the NAIC has published, so it lags current premiums — expenditures rose roughly 14% in the year this data covers, and the trend has not reversed. Treat it as a starting point and enter your own premium if you know it. Individual premiums vary enormously with driving record, credit-based insurance score where permitted, vehicle, garaging address, and chosen limits; a state average cannot predict any individual's rate.
mixed2026v2026.07.1
Fuel economy anchored to the U.S. EPA Automotive Trends Report (model year 2024 real-world values); ownership cost components compiled from IRS Notice 2026-10 and IR-2026-29 standard mileage rates, U.S. DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center guidance, and editorial baselines where no agency publishes a figure
Two numbers here come straight from the EPA: the model year 2024 fleet-wide real-world average of 27.2 MPG and the truck SUV average of 25.7 MPG. The other class averages are editorial estimates positioned around those published anchors, and every one of them describes a NEW vehicle — the average vehicle actually on the road is roughly twelve years old and less efficient, which is why each class carries a range rather than a point. Depreciation, maintenance, tires, and registration are assumptions: no federal agency publishes them per vehicle, and the commercial datasets that do are licensed products we have not bought. Each is registered in the assumption registry with its observed range and rationale, and each is adjustable in every calculator that uses it.
These are the figures we chose rather than measured. For each one we record the range of values found across references, what we selected, and why — because an estimate you cannot interrogate is not much better than a guess. The 2 marked high risk are the ones most likely to be wrong and most consequential when they are.
Share of purchase price retained by vehicle agehigh risklow confidence+
Observed range
0.35 — 0.59 (typical 0.49)share of original transaction price retained
Why this value
Anchored at the five-year point, where a mainstream vehicle driven average miles typically retains just under half its original price. The curve is steepest in year one at roughly 20% lost, then flattens. This is the single largest cost in the ownership calculator and the least certain figure on the site, which is why the result presents it as a band and says so in the notes.
Applies to
Not modeled regionally. Real resale does vary — trucks hold value better in rural markets, convertibles in warm ones — but not in a way any public dataset captures.
Known limits
Model-specific variation is enormous and this curve cannot capture it: some pickups retain well above the high band while some luxury sedans fall below the low one. Electric vehicle resale has been especially volatile and is not separately modeled. Treat the resale figure as a band, not a valuation, and get a real quote before acting on it.
Sources
No public agency publishes vehicle resale curves; the commercial guides that do are licensed products not used here; Editorial curve calibrated against the widely reported pattern of roughly 20% loss in year one and near 50% by year five
Last verified
2026-07-31 · reviewed annual
Maintenance, repairs, and tires per mile by vehicle agehigh risklow confidence+
Observed range
0.04 — 0.26 (typical 0.1)dollars per mile
Why this value
Three age bands rather than one figure, because upkeep roughly triples per mile between a nearly-new vehicle and one past ten years old. The typical value shown here is the mid-life band, which covers vehicles four to nine years old. Excludes collision damage and excludes fuel.
Applies to
Not modeled regionally, though labor rates for repair work follow the same pattern as other trades.
Known limits
These are multi-year averages, not predictions for any particular month. Real maintenance spending is lumpy: nothing for months, then a component failure. The high end of the older-vehicle band is where those years land.
Sources
No federal agency publishes vehicle maintenance cost per mile; the commercial datasets that do are licensed products not used here; Cross-checked for plausibility against the IRS business standard mileage rate, which is an all-in federal figure covering this among other costs
Last verified
2026-07-31 · reviewed annual
Real-world fuel economy by vehicle classmedium confidence+
Observed range
15 — 48 (typical 27.2)miles per gallon, combined
Why this value
Two of the eight class figures are published: the EPA Automotive Trends Report gives a model year 2024 fleet-wide real-world average of 27.2 MPG and a truck SUV average of 25.7. The remaining six are positioned around those anchors so the volume-weighted mix reproduces the published fleet average. Every class is a band rather than a point, because a rating is a test-cycle result and real driving departs from it in one direction.
Applies to
Not regionally variable, though cold-climate states see materially worse real-world economy in winter.
Known limits
These are NEW vehicle averages. The average vehicle on the road is roughly twelve years old and less efficient, so a user with an older car should enter their own MPG. Six of the eight classes are not individually published.
Sources
U.S. EPA Automotive Trends Report, model year 2024 (published February 2026) — fleet average 27.2 MPG, truck SUV 25.7 MPG; Remaining class values are editorial estimates anchored to the two published figures
Last verified
2026-07-31 · reviewed annual
Annual registration, plates, and inspectionlow confidence+
Observed range
60 — 420 (typical 165)dollars per year
Why this value
A national band rather than a state figure. This line varies by rule rather than by market: some states charge a flat registration fee under $50, while others levy an annual property tax on the vehicle's assessed value that can exceed $600 for a newer car. A growing number add a supplemental fee for electric vehicles to offset forgone fuel tax.
Applies to
Varies enormously by state, but by statute rather than by cost, so no index derived from wages or prices would predict it.
Known limits
Cannot be right for any particular state. Users should check their own DMV schedule and override the figure, which the form allows.
Sources
No federal agency compiles state motor vehicle registration schedules; Editorial band spanning flat-fee states and value-tax states
Last verified
2026-07-31 · reviewed annual
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Cost factors
What changes the price most
Which basis you use
The single largest factor. Full cost often runs more than double the marginal cost for the same vehicle.
Annual mileage
On the full basis, halving your mileage nearly doubles the per-mile figure. On the marginal basis it changes nothing.
Fuel economy
Sets the fuel line directly — the difference between 21 and 48 MPG is about 11 cents a mile at current prices.
Vehicle age
Upkeep roughly triples per mile between a nearly-new vehicle and one past ten years old.
Depreciation
For a newer vehicle, often the largest line on the full basis, and entirely absent from the marginal one.
Insurance
A fixed annual cost, so its per-mile impact depends completely on how much you drive.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is the average cost per mile to drive a car?
+
On a full-cost basis, roughly 50 to 70 cents a mile for a typical car at average mileage, depending heavily on the vehicle and whether depreciation is counted. On a marginal basis — fuel and wear only — around 20 to 30 cents. The IRS business rate of 76 cents sits above both, because it is a deliberately generous national allowance.
Should I use the IRS mileage rate to calculate my driving costs?
+
For reimbursement or a tax deduction, yes — that is what it exists for. As an estimate of what your own driving costs, it usually runs high: it must cover every vehicle in every state, including expensive ones. Working out your own figure from your actual fuel economy, mileage, and premium is more accurate.
How do I calculate cost per mile for my car?
+
Add up a year of vehicle spending — fuel, maintenance, tires, insurance, registration, and the value the car lost — then divide by the miles you drove. For the marginal figure, include only fuel and maintenance. The form above does both and itemises each line.
Does driving fewer miles save money?
+
It saves the marginal cost, around 20 to 30 cents a mile for a typical car — real, but less than the full-cost figure suggests. Insurance, registration, and most depreciation continue regardless. Driving substantially less only saves substantial money if it eventually lets you drop the vehicle entirely.
Why is my cost per mile higher than the average?
+
Usually low annual mileage, an older vehicle with heavier repair bills, poor fuel economy, or an expensive insurance market — often several at once. The itemised breakdown above shows which line is responsible, which is more useful than the total.