Work out how much your road trip will cost, starting with gas. Enter distance, MPG and fuel price, add lodging and food if you like, and the tool gives the total and a per-person share.
Enter the one-way distance, your vehicle’s MPG and the fuel price. Add nights, lodging, days and food for a full trip budget, and split it across travellers.
Fuel cost = distance / MPG x fuel price (doubled for a round trip). Lodging and food are added from your nightly and daily figures, then the total is split evenly across travellers.
How to Calculate Gas Cost for a Road Trip
Divide the miles by your car’s MPG to get gallons, then multiply by the price per gallon. A 1,000-mile drive at 30 MPG uses 33.3 gallons, and at $3.50 a gallon that is about $117 in gas. For a round trip, double the one-way distance first.
| Distance | Gallons (30 MPG) | Gas cost at $3.50/gal |
|---|---|---|
| 250 miles | 8.3 | $29.17 |
| 500 miles | 16.7 | $58.33 |
| 1,000 miles | 33.3 | $116.67 |
| 2,000 miles | 66.7 | $233.33 |
| 3,000 miles | 100 | $350.00 |
How Much Will My Road Trip Cost?
Add fuel, lodging and food, then divide by the number of travellers.
fuel = distance / MPG x fuel price (x2 for round trip)total = fuel + (nights x lodging) + (days x food)per person = total / travellers
- Fuel: 500 miles each way is 1,000 miles; 1,000 ÷ 30 MPG × $3.50 ≈ $116.67.
- Lodging: 2 nights × $120 = $240.
- Food: 3 days × $40 = $120.
- Total: $116.67 + $240 + $120 ≈ $477, or about $119 each for four people.
| Cost | How it’s figured |
|---|---|
| Fuel | Distance / MPG x price per gallon |
| Lodging | Nights x nightly rate |
| Food | Days x daily food budget |
| Per person | Total / number of travellers |
Tips for a Cheaper Road Trip
Sharing fuel and lodging across more people drops the per-person cost fast. Steady speeds and proper tyre pressure improve MPG, and packing some meals trims the food line.
Driving vs Flying for the Same Trip
Driving usually wins for shorter distances or larger groups, because several travellers share one car’s fuel. For longer distances or smaller groups, flying can work out cheaper once per-person airfare is weighed against several days of fuel and lodging. Running both numbers side by side is the only reliable way to know.
- Enter distance, MPG and fuel price.
- Tick round trip and set the number of people.
- Add nights and food for the full budget and split.
Planning a move instead of a trip? See our Moving Cost Calculator.
Getting Accurate Fuel Inputs
Use your own real-world MPG, not the official rating. Fuel is the figure people most often get wrong, because the rating rarely matches a loaded car at highway speed.
- Fill the tank, reset the trip meter, and divide distance by fuel used at the next fill-up.
- Knock a little off that figure for a heavy load, roof box, towing or long stretches at high speed, all of which raise consumption.
- Add distance for detours and sightseeing.
Once you have a total, add costs it may not include: tolls, hotel and attraction parking, and ferries. A small contingency covers surprises such as a flat tire.
How to Split Gas Money on a Road Trip
Divide the fuel cost by the number of people in the car: $116.67 shared by four is about $29 each. Agree up front whether the split covers only shared costs or each person’s meals too. The fuel economy in automobiles article on Wikipedia explains why ratings differ from real driving, handy before you rerun the numbers.