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Monthly Driving Cost Calculator

Most people know their car payment and roughly what they spend on gas.

Last updated Free, no sign-upHow it works

Your inputs
Your driving

The average driver covers about 1,125 miles a month.

Sets the maintenance and repair allowance. Older vehicles cost more per mile to keep running.

Location

Optional. Picks the published price for your state; otherwise the US average is used.

Why we ask

A ZIP code is matched to its state with published postal prefix ranges and used only to look up that state’s row in a federal price table. We never ask for a street address, nothing is stored, and your inputs appear only in this page’s URL.

Results update as you type. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or stored.

What driving costs you each month: $370, ranging from $280 to $500.

What driving costs you each month

low confidence
$3701,125 miles a month
$280 lowhigh $500

What makes up the typical figure

  • Fuel$150
  • Maintenance, repairs, and tires$110
  • Insurance$110
  • United States average
  • Assumptions 2026.07.1

Why low: no state was resolved, so national averages were used; the modeled range spans about 59% of the typical value.

Key figures

Cost per mile
$0.33
Per year
$4,442($3,401 – $6,042)
Fuel alone, per month
$151($130 – $180)
Gallons a month
36.3
Same miles at the IRS rate
$855The IRS allows 76.0 cents a mile for business driving. It is a national all-in average, useful as a sanity check against the figure above.

Cost breakdown

Estimated cost of each component, with low, typical, and high values.
ComponentLowTypicalHigh
FuelEnergy36.3 gallons at $4.157/gal.$130$150$180
Maintenance, repairs, and tiresOther4 to 9 years old, at 10 cents a mile. An assumption, not a published figure.$79$110$170
InsuranceOtherCountrywide average expenditure of $1,282 per insured vehicle (NAIC, 2023 — the most recent year published). Individual premiums vary widely around this.$75$110$150
What driving costs you each month$280$370$500

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

  • Fuel is not the main cost

    Fuel is only 41% of the monthly total. The fixed costs — insurance, any payment, and the wear the vehicle accrues whether or not you drive it — matter more, and none of them fall when you cut back a few trips.

How this number was produced
  1. Fuel1,125 mi ÷ 31 MPG × $4.157$151
  2. Upkeep1,125 mi × $0.10/mi$113
  3. Monthly totalfuel + upkeep + fixed costs$370

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.

Notes and sources3 notes, 3 sources

Worth knowing

  • This is the cost of running a vehicle you already own. It deliberately leaves out depreciation, which is usually the single largest cost of owning a newer car but is not a monthly bill — the car ownership calculator includes it.
  • Maintenance and tire costs are assumptions rather than published statistics. No federal agency tracks them per mile, and the commercial datasets that do are licensed products. The figures used here are broad bands documented in the assumption registry, and you can override them.
  • Insurance uses the NAIC state average expenditure, which is what insured drivers actually paid rather than an advertised rate. It is the most recent year published and therefore lags; if you know your own premium, enter it.

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

The rest of what driving costs arrives unevenly — a set of tires, a brake job, a renewal notice — and rarely gets counted. This calculator puts the recurring costs of running a vehicle you already own into one monthly figure, and shows what each mile is really costing you.

Methodology

How this calculator works

What counts as a monthly cost

This calculator answers a specific question: what does it cost to run the car sitting in your driveway. Fuel and upkeep scale with the miles you drive. Insurance, any payment, and parking do not — they arrive whether the car moves or not, and they are included because they are unavoidable if you keep the vehicle.

Depreciation is deliberately excluded here. It is real, and for a newer vehicle it usually exceeds every other line combined, but it is not a monthly bill and including it would answer a different question. The car ownership calculator covers it properly.

Where each number comes from

Fuel prices are the Energy Information Administration’s current weekly retail average for your state or PADD region. Insurance is the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ average expenditure per insured vehicle for your state — what drivers actually spent, not a quoted rate.

Maintenance, repairs, and tires are the one line with no official source. The figures here are documented assumption bands that rise with vehicle age, registered with their observed range and rationale. They are averages over years, not predictions for next month: most months you spend nothing and occasionally you spend a great deal.

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.

Full detail on every dataset is on the data sources page. Spotted something wrong? Report incorrect data.

Calibration

The judgements behind this estimate

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 1 marked high risk are the ones most likely to be wrong and most consequential when they are.

  • 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
  • Electric drivetrain maintenance relative to gasolinemedium confidence
    Observed range
    0.5 — 0.8 (typical 0.65)multiplier on the gasoline maintenance figure
    Why this value
    Net of two opposing effects. Electric drivetrains remove oil changes, spark plugs, exhaust systems, and timing belts, and regenerative braking means pads often last past 100,000 miles. Tires run the other way: the vehicles are heavier and deliver torque instantly, so they wear faster.
    Applies to
    Not regionally variable.
    Known limits
    The federal source describes the difference qualitatively and does not put a number on it. Battery replacement outside warranty is not modeled at all, and would dominate if it occurred.
    Sources
    U.S. DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center guidance on electric vehicle maintenance requirements (qualitative); Editorial quantification of the qualitative federal guidance
    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

Cost factors

What changes the price most

Miles driven
Drives fuel and upkeep directly, and quietly drives depreciation too.
Fuel economy
The gap between a 21 MPG pickup and a 48 MPG hybrid is roughly $90 a month at average mileage and current prices.
Vehicle age
Upkeep roughly triples per mile between a nearly-new vehicle and one past ten years old.
Insurance
Varies more than twofold between the cheapest and most expensive states, and just as much between drivers within a state.
A loan payment
Often the largest single line, and the one most people already know. Included only if you ask for it.
Where you park
Free in most of the country and several hundred dollars a month in a handful of dense cities.

Questions

Frequently asked

How much does it cost to drive per month?

For a typical midsize sedan at average mileage, roughly $250 to $350 a month once fuel, upkeep, and insurance are counted — before any loan payment. A newer truck with a payment can easily exceed $900. The spread is wide because mileage, vehicle, and state all move it substantially.

What is the average cost per mile to drive?

Running costs for a typical car work out around 25 to 35 cents a mile excluding depreciation. The IRS business standard mileage rate, currently 76 cents, is higher because it includes depreciation and is built as a generous national average for tax purposes.

Should I include my car payment in driving costs?

It depends what you are deciding. To budget your monthly outgoings, yes. To decide whether a particular trip is worth taking, no — the payment happens either way, so only fuel and wear are genuinely caused by the trip. The toggle above lets you answer either question.

How much should I budget for car maintenance each month?

Setting aside 6 to 10 cents per mile is a reasonable rule for a vehicle under about ten years old, so roughly $70 to $110 a month at average mileage. Older vehicles justify more. The point of the reserve is that these costs arrive in lumps, not evenly.

Why is my insurance so different from the state average shown?

Because a state average blends every driver, vehicle, and coverage level in the state, including people carrying only minimum liability. Your own premium depends on your record, your vehicle, your garaging address, your chosen limits, and in most states a credit-based insurance score. Enter your actual premium for a figure that means something.