Cost per mile calculator
What Every Mile Actually Costs You.
Add up fuel, insurance, maintenance, and depreciation to see the true per-mile cost of your car. The number that lets you compare driving vs. leasing, vs. a more efficient car, vs. selling the thing.
Formula: (annual fuel + insurance + maintenance + depreciation + misc) ÷ annual miles.
Why "cost per mile" is the number that matters
Annual costs are abstract. Cost per mile is concrete. It lets you ask things like: "Is this 30-mile commute worth it?" or "Would a more fuel-efficient car actually save me money, or just shift the cost into a higher monthly payment?"
For most US drivers in 2026, total cost per mile lands somewhere between $0.45 and $0.85. AAA's annual "Your Driving Costs" study has tracked this number for decades; the all-in average for a typical new car is around $0.70 once depreciation and finance are included.
How to estimate each input
Annual fuel
Annual miles ÷ MPG × cost per gallon. If you drive 12,000 miles at 28 MPG and gas is $3.80, that's ~$1,630/yr.
Annual insurance
Your monthly premium × 12. Easy. Don't forget any annual policies (umbrella, roadside) that auto-renew.
Annual maintenance & repairs
Use the last 12 months of receipts. If you don't have records, $600–1,000 is a reasonable estimate for a 5–10 year-old car driven normally. Older cars and luxury brands run higher.
Annual depreciation
This is the biggest hidden cost. (Current resale value) − (resale value 12 months from now). For a 3-year-old car you can estimate 10–15% of current value per year. Our depreciation calculator does the math.
Annual miles driven
Subtract last year's odometer reading from this year's. Most US drivers do 10,000–15,000 miles annually.
What to do with the number
Compare it against the alternatives:
- Ride-share / taxi — typically $1.50–$3 per mile. Driving wins almost always for daily use.
- Public transit — pennies per mile if available. Worth tracking how often you actually use it.
- A more efficient replacement car — model out the new car's CPM (lower fuel, but higher depreciation since it's newer). Often a wash.
- Working from home one day a week — your CPM stays the same but you drive less. Easiest savings.
The point isn't to obsess over decimals. It's to make ownership decisions based on a real number instead of a vague feeling that "driving is expensive."
Track this automatically with Maintory
Calculating CPM is a one-time exercise. Knowing it month-to-month requires logging every expense — which is exactly what Maintory does. The app tracks fuel, service, insurance payments, and parts in one per-car timeline, then shows you spend-by-period summaries so the per-mile number stays current without spreadsheet maintenance.
Related guides & calculators
Your real cost-per-mile, updating itself.
Log expenses once and Maintory does the math every time mileage or spend changes.
