Key takeaways
- Cost per mile = fuel per mile + maintenance per mile + fixed cost per mile.
- Fuel per mile is simply your fuel price ÷ MPG.
- Insurance, registration, and depreciation are fixed annual costs spread over the miles you drive.
- Driving more miles lowers fixed cost per mile — that's why high-mileage cars are cheaper per mile to run.
How to figure your true cost to drive
The cost to drive a mile is built from three buckets. Fuel scales directly with miles and is your pump price divided by fuel economy. Maintenance and repairs also scale with miles and are easiest to estimate as a flat per-mile figure. Fixed costs — insurance, registration, and depreciation — don't change with how far you drive, so you spread them across your annual mileage.
That last step is the eye-opener: a number that looks tiny per mile turns into thousands of dollars a year once you multiply it by how much you actually drive.
Worked example: a 28 MPG commuter
At $3.50/gal and 28 MPG, fuel = 3.50 ÷ 28 = $0.125/mi. Maintenance is $0.10/mi. With $4,000/yr in fixed costs over 12,000 miles, fixed = 4,000 ÷ 12,000 = $0.333/mi. Total = $0.56/mi, which is about $55.83 per 100 miles and roughly $6,696 per year.
Fuel cost per mile by fuel economy (at $3.50/gal)
| Fuel economy | Fuel cost per mile |
|---|---|
| 15 MPG | $0.233 |
| 20 MPG | $0.175 |
| 25 MPG | $0.140 |
| 30 MPG | $0.117 |
| 40 MPG | $0.088 |
How to lower your cost per mile
The biggest lever is usually the fixed bucket: depreciation and insurance dominate on newer cars, so a paid-off, slow-depreciating vehicle drops your per-mile cost sharply. Improving fuel economy and shopping insurance help too. If you're weighing an electric vehicle, the energy side often wins outright — compare it with the EV charging cost calculator to see an EV's per-mile energy cost against your gas number.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate cost per mile to drive?
Add fuel per mile (price ÷ MPG), maintenance per mile, and fixed cost per mile (annual fixed costs ÷ annual miles). The defaults work out to about $0.56/mi.
What should I include in cost per mile?
Fuel, maintenance and repairs, insurance, registration, and depreciation. Fuel and maintenance scale with miles; the rest are fixed annual costs spread over your mileage.
What's the average cost per mile to drive in the US?
AAA puts a typical new vehicle around $0.70–$1.00/mi at 15,000 miles a year. Older, paid-off cars often run $0.30–$0.50/mi.
Is it cheaper per mile to drive gas or EV?
On energy alone an EV is usually far cheaper — often $0.04–$0.06/mi versus $0.10–$0.15 for gas. Total cost also depends on maintenance, insurance, and depreciation.
Does the IRS mileage rate reflect the true cost?
The IRS rate (~$0.67/mi for 2024) is a reimbursement benchmark, not your exact cost. Your real number depends on fuel price, MPG, maintenance, and annual miles.
How can I lower my cost per mile?
Drive more miles to spread fixed costs, improve MPG, shop insurance, keep up with maintenance, and pick a slow-depreciating vehicle.
For a widely used benchmark, the IRS standard mileage rate (about $0.67 per mile for 2024) reflects average vehicle operating costs and is handy for sanity-checking your own number. Your actual cost depends on your fuel price, fuel economy, and how many miles you drive.
Last reviewed June 2026