Cost Per Mile to Drive Calculator
Add fuel, insurance, maintenance, fees and depreciation to see what each mile costs you to drive, with fuel split out and yearly totals by category.
Cost Per Mile to Drive Calculator
Driving and fuel
This year's odometer reading minus last year's works. The US average was 13,735 miles per licensed driver in 2024 (FHWA).
Can't be negative.
Your real mpg if you know it. EPA ratings are for comparing cars and may not match what you get. Electric car? Leave this empty and add charging to Parking, tolls and other.
Can't be negative.
Type all three decimals, like 4.499. The US average for regular was $4.478 on September 21, 2026 (EIA).
Can't be negative.
Yearly costs
Starting values are AAA's 2026 averages for a new car, as a sample. Replace them with your own bills.
Your yearly premium. AAA's 2026 average for full coverage is $2,098.
Can't be negative.
Oil changes, repairs and tires for a year. The default is AAA's 11.7¢ a mile at 13,500 miles. If you change your miles, change this too.
Can't be negative.
AAA's $802 spreads the sales tax paid at purchase over five years. If you already own the car, enter just your yearly registration and fees.
Can't be negative.
Value lost in a year: what you paid minus what you expect to sell it for, divided by the years you'll keep it. AAA's new-car average is $4,422.
Can't be negative.
Interest only, not the whole payment. Enter 0 if the car is paid off. AAA's average for a 5-year new-car loan is $1,184.
Can't be negative.
A year of parking, tolls, car washes and anything else. For an electric car, add charging here.
Can't be negative.
Driving 13,500 miles a year costs about $0.926 a mile, or $12,505 a year.
| Cost | Per year | Per mile |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel | $2,419 | $0.179 |
| Insurance | $2,098 | $0.155 |
| Maintenance, repairs and tires | $1,580 | $0.117 |
| Registration, taxes and fees | $802 | $0.059 |
| Depreciation | $4,422 | $0.328 |
| Loan interest | $1,184 | $0.088 |
| Parking, tolls and other | $0 | $0.000 |
| Total | $12,505 | $0.926 |
Yearly figures are rounded to the dollar and per-mile figures to a tenth of a cent, each from unrounded math, so the rows can be a dollar or $0.001 off the total.
Road44
Driving Hours Tracker & Logger
Log miles and fuel cost on every drive in Road44
Start a drive with one tap or add it afterward. Road44 totals your hours or miles and exports the logbook as a PDF or CSV.
Free · No sign-up needed
Road44, the driving log app mentioned below, is our app. Cost figures were checked on AAA, EIA, EPA, FHWA and IRS pages in September 2026. This calculator isn't tax advice.
How to work out what a mile of driving costs you
Cost per mile is a year of driving costs divided by the miles you drove that year. Fuel per mile is the gas price divided by your mpg.
The calculator starts at 13,500 miles a year, 25 mpg and $4.48 a gallon, with AAA's 2026 new-car averages for the yearly bills. For maintenance, we converted AAA's 11.7¢ a mile to a yearly figure at 13,500 miles.
| Cost | Per year | Per mile |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel (13,500 ÷ 25 × $4.48) | $2,419 | $0.179 |
| Insurance | $2,098 | $0.155 |
| Maintenance, repairs and tires | $1,580 | $0.117 |
| Registration, taxes and fees | $802 | $0.059 |
| Depreciation | $4,422 | $0.328 |
| Loan interest | $1,184 | $0.088 |
| Total | $12,505 | $0.926 |
Depreciation is the biggest single line: $4,422 of the $12,505, or about a third. Fuel is less than a fifth, at $2,419. In this example the value the car loses costs nearly twice as much as the gas.
Where to find your own numbers:
- Miles: this year's odometer reading minus last year's. The US average was 13,735 miles per licensed driver in 2024.
- Fuel economy: your own fill-ups. The 25 mpg default is a round figure, not an EPA number. EPA's Automotive Trends report puts the average model year 2024 new vehicle at a record 27.2 mpg.
- Insurance and registration: your policy and renewal statements.
- Maintenance: a year of receipts for oil changes, repairs and tires.
- Depreciation: what you paid, minus what you expect to sell it for, divided by the years you'll keep it.
- Loan interest: the interest line on your loan statement, not the whole payment.
What AAA's 2026 numbers say, and why yours may differ
AAA's Your Driving Costs 2026 study puts the average cost to own and run a new car at $12,863 a year, or $1,071.92 a month. At 15,000 miles a year that's 86¢ a mile. The average weighted MSRP of the cars in the study is $39,376. Cost per mile varies a lot by vehicle type:
| Vehicle type | Cost per mile |
|---|---|
| Small sedan | 61.73¢ |
| Medium sedan | 70.37¢ |
| Subcompact SUV | 71.68¢ |
| Compact SUV | 77.80¢ |
| Midsize pickup | 87.26¢ |
| Medium SUV | 96.32¢ |
| Half-ton pickup | $1.10 |
To check the calculator against AAA, enter 15,000 miles, AAA's $4.152 average gas price, $1,755 of maintenance (11.7¢ × 15,000), AAA's other yearly figures and 24 mpg. AAA doesn't publish an mpg; 24 is our estimate from $4.152 ÷ 17.3¢. The result is $12,856 a year and $0.857 a mile, against AAA's $12,863 and 86¢. AAA rounds its fuel and maintenance rates to a tenth of a cent, which is likely where the $7 gap comes from.
Your own number could be well above or below that. AAA itself says "Actual driving costs will vary based on driving habits, location, operating conditions and other factors." Its averages assume:
- a new car, with costs averaged over five years and 75,000 miles
- full coverage for a driver under 65 with more than six years' experience and no accidents, living in the suburbs or a city
- a five-year loan with 15% down
- registration that includes the taxes and fees paid when the car was bought
For a made-up comparison, take a paid-off used car driven 12,000 miles a year at 30 mpg, with $1,650 of insurance, $1,100 of maintenance, $250 of registration, $1,800 of depreciation, no loan and $600 of parking. At $4.48 a gallon it costs $7,192 a year, or $0.599 a mile, and fuel is $0.149 of that.
Why more miles make each mile cheaper, up to a point
In the default example, everything except fuel ($10,086 of the $12,505) is a yearly bill that stays the same when you change your miles. Insurance, registration and loan interest arrive whether the car moves or not. Set miles to 0 and the calculator still shows $10,086 a year, but no per-mile figure.
Spread those bills over more miles and each mile gets cheaper. AAA's figures fall from $1.10 a mile at 10,000 miles a year to 86¢ at 15,000 and 74¢ at 20,000.
The calculator and AAA drift apart at the ends, though. Put AAA's 2026 figures in, hold depreciation at $4,422, scale maintenance at 11.7¢ a mile and keep fuel at $4.152 and 24 mpg:
- 10,000 miles gives $1.141 a mile, against AAA's $1.10.
- 20,000 miles gives $0.715 a mile, against AAA's 74¢.
AAA's per-mile cost falls more slowly, likely because AAA lets costs like depreciation grow with mileage (its fact sheet doesn't break the categories out at 10,000 or 20,000 miles). So if you drive well above or below average, change depreciation and maintenance along with your miles. Otherwise a high-mileage figure will look better than it is, and a low-mileage one a little worse.
For comparison, the IRS business mileage rate is 72.5 cents a mile for January 1 to June 30, 2026 and 76 cents a mile for July 1 to December 31, 2026. That's a flat deduction rate, not your car's cost, and this page isn't tax advice.
Track your real miles and fuel in Road44
This calculator is only as good as the miles and mpg you give it. Road44, the driving log we make, keeps a record of the miles you drive and the fuel you buy:
- Log each drive live or after the fact, with a start and end odometer reading or a manual distance.
- Add fuel volume and fuel cost when you fill up, and use the expenses field for tolls or parking.
- Pick Distance as your goal metric, and the home screen totals your miles for this week, this month and all time.
- Label each drive with a vehicle and a purpose: Business, Personal, Commute or Medical.
- With Pro, the Insights screen shows fuel economy from your fill-ups and your fuel spend for the last 7, 30 or 90 days. Those are the mpg and fuel figures this calculator asks for.
Road44 doesn't track insurance, depreciation or loan interest, or work out cost per mile. That's what this calculator is for. History, the calendar and the logbook export (Text, CSV, PDF or PNG, no watermark) are free. There's no account, and drives stay on your phone. Road44 is a personal record, not an official or certified logbook, and not tax advice.
See more driving calculators, or read our guide to choosing a paper log or an app for recording drives. You can also see how driving log apps compare.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about cost per mile to drive calculator
How do I calculate my cost per mile to drive?
Add up a year of driving costs and divide by the miles you drove that year. Fuel is miles ÷ mpg × the price per gallon. Everything else is a yearly bill: insurance, maintenance and tires, registration, depreciation, loan interest and extras like parking. With this page's starting values, fuel is 13,500 ÷ 25 × $4.48 = $2,419.20 and the other costs come to $10,086. That makes $12,505.20 ÷ 13,500 = $0.926 a mile. Fuel alone is $4.48 ÷ 25 = $0.179 a mile.
What is the average cost per mile to own a car?
AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs puts the average cost to own and run a new car at $12,863 a year, or 86¢ a mile at 15,000 miles. At 10,000 miles a year it's $1.10 a mile, and at 20,000 it's 74¢. Small sedans are the cheapest type at 61.73¢ a mile; half-ton pickups cost the most at $1.10. The figures average a new car's first five years and 75,000 miles, with full-coverage insurance. A car you already own outright may cost less.
Why does my cost per mile go down when I drive more?
You pay most of a car's cost whether you drive it or not. Insurance, registration, loan interest and much of the depreciation are yearly, so more miles spread them thinner. In AAA's 2026 figures the average falls from $1.10 a mile at 10,000 miles to 74¢ at 20,000. Fuel and maintenance cost about the same per mile at any mileage. One caveat: this calculator keeps your depreciation at whatever you type, while AAA's own figures suggest costs like depreciation grow with mileage. Enter AAA's other 2026 figures, hold its $4,422 of depreciation fixed, and you get about 71.5¢ a mile at 20,000 miles, below AAA's 74¢. So if you drive a lot more than usual, raise depreciation and maintenance too, or the per-mile figure will look better than it is.
How do I work out depreciation per year?
Take what you paid, subtract what you expect to get when you sell or trade it in, and divide by the years you'll keep it. A car bought for $30,000 and sold for $15,000 five years later loses $3,000 a year. If you've had the car a while, compare its trade-in value today with what a similar car one year older sells for. AAA's 2026 new-car average is $4,422 a year, based on the drop from purchase price to trade-in value after five years and 75,000 miles.
Should I include my car payment?
Only the interest. The rest of each payment buys the car, and the value the car loses is already counted in depreciation. Adding the whole payment would count it twice. Your loan statement or payment schedule shows how much of the year's payments was interest. AAA's 2026 average finance cost is $1,184 a year, based on a five-year loan with 15% down at the national average interest rate. If the car is paid off, enter 0.
How does my cost per mile compare with the IRS mileage rate?
The IRS business standard mileage rate changed partway through 2026. It is 72.5 cents a mile for driving from January 1 to June 30, 2026, and 76 cents a mile from July 1 to December 31, 2026 (IRS standard mileage rates). It's a flat rate for working out mileage deductions, not a measure of what your own car costs, so this calculator doesn't use it. Your own cost per mile may be higher or lower. This page's starting values give $0.926 a mile, and a hypothetical paid-off used car with lower costs comes in near $0.60. Road44 and this calculator aren't tax advice. Check IRS rules or ask a tax professional before you claim miles.
Does it work for an electric car?
Yes. Leave mpg empty and put a year of charging in "Parking, tolls and other". EPA's label gives a kWh per 100 miles figure, which tells you "how many kilowatt-hours the vehicle would use to travel 100 miles." Multiply your miles ÷ 100 by that figure and by your electricity rate. At 13,500 miles, a car using 30 kWh per 100 miles and paying 18¢ per kWh (the home-charging rate in AAA's 2026 study) spends 135 × 30 × $0.18 = $729 a year. If you charge in public, use the rate you actually pay there.
What costs does this leave out?
Only the ones you don't enter. AAA's study counts six costs: depreciation; finance; fuel; insurance; license, registration and taxes; and maintenance, repair and tires. Parking, tolls, car washes and tickets aren't among them, so add a year of those under "Parking, tolls and other". Your own time behind the wheel isn't counted either.