Road trip cost calculator

Enter your values

Enter mileage, fuel economy, gas price, and trip expenses to estimate the full budget for a road trip.

Speed mode: your planned highway speed. MPG at 55 mph is used as the baseline for comparison.

Speed mode: what is an hour of your time worth? Used to weigh time saved against extra fuel cost.

All required fields must be filled in.

Total Trip Cost

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Enter the route mileage and travel costs to estimate total road trip budget, per-day burn, and cost per mile.

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Example calculations

Tap an example to prefill the calculator with sample values.

Four-night summer drive

1,450 miles with hotels and sightseeing

A realistic multi-day road trip with fuel, lodging, food, and activity costs all included.

Result: Fuel is only one part of the budget once lodging and food are included.

Weekend city run

420 miles with two nights away

A shorter trip where tolls and lodging can outweigh fuel cost.

Result: The total budget can still add up quickly on a short trip when hotel rates stay high.

Speed vs fuel — 500 mile trip at 75 mph

Is driving 75 mph instead of 55 worth the extra gas?

Compare the fuel penalty of higher highway speed against the time you save, using an hourly dollar value for your time.

Result: Driving 75 vs 55 costs about $12 more in fuel but saves ~2.4 hours — a clear net win at $25/hr time value.

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