Road Trip Fuel Cost
Calculate the total fuel cost for a road trip, cost per person, and gallons needed.
Results
What is it?
The Road Trip Fuel Cost Calculator estimates how much you will spend on gas for a road trip. Enter the one-way distance, your car's fuel economy, current gas prices, and the number of people sharing the trip — it returns one-way cost, round-trip cost, gallons needed, and per-person share.
How to use
Look up your route distance on Google Maps. Find your car's MPG rating on fueleconomy.gov or your dashboard fuel economy display. Check current gas prices on GasBuddy or at local stations along your route. Enter all values and the calculator does the rest.
Example scenario
A 500-mile road trip in a 30 MPG car at $3.50/gallon with 2 passengers: 500/30 approximately 16.7 gallons × $3.50 = $58.33 one-way. Each person pays $29.17 one-way, or $116.67 for the full round trip between both people.
Pro tip
Your real-world MPG will differ from the EPA estimate. Highway driving at 65 mph is most efficient; mpg drops significantly above 75 mph due to aerodynamic drag (roughly 3–5% less per 5 mph over 50 mph). Properly inflated tires improve efficiency by 0.5–3%. Carpooling is the single biggest per-person savings: 4 passengers in a 30 MPG car produces the same per-person CO2 as a 120 MPG vehicle. For EVs, replace MPG with miles-per-kWh and fuel cost with your electricity rate.