Commuting fuel cost calculator

How to work out your commuting cost

1. Enter your start and end points, or the distance of a single trip from home to work. With a route, the calculator also estimates how much is town, country road and motorway.
2. Tick “Return”.
3. In “Number of times”, enter the days you drive to work in the period: about 20–21 for a typical month, or around 230 a year in the UK.
4. Choose your fuel, vehicle type and fuel economy. If you know your real mpg, choose “My real figure”: it is the most reliable. If not, you can work out your real mpg over a few fill-ups.
5. If you usually hit queues, set “Expected traffic jams”. If others ride with you, add them under “Number of travellers” to see the cost per person.

Working days are an estimate. A year has about 260 weekdays. In the UK, most people working five days a week get at least 28 days of paid leave, and employers can count bank holidays as part of it, which leaves around 230 working days. In the US, federal law does not require paid vacation or holidays, so it depends on your employer: with two weeks off plus public holidays, it is about 240. Working from home part of the week? Count only the days you drive.

Example: a typical UK and US commute

In England, people made 117 commuting trips and covered 1,055 commuting miles per person in 2023 (National Travel Survey), about 9 miles per trip. In the US, the average commute by private vehicle was 13.6 miles each way in 2022 (National Household Travel Survey). Both examples use mostly town driving (the “Urban” mix) with moderate traffic, and example fuel prices.

The UK car ends up at about 36 mpg rather than 45, because official figures are corrected to real-world use (petrol cars use about 20% more than WLTP on average, see real-world vs official fuel economy) and because town driving and queues use more than mixed driving. The EPA label is already close to real-world use, so the US car drops less, from 30 to about 28 mpg.

Car sharing: how to split the cost

Set “Number of travellers” to the number of people in the car. The calculator adds 75 kg (165 lb) for each passenger and shows the cost per person. In the UK example, with three people the month costs £71 in total (£3 more, for the extra weight) and £23.50 each, instead of £67 driving alone.

• If you all make the same trip, split the total evenly: that is the “cost per person”.
• If someone joins halfway, split by distance: work out their part separately or use the “cost per mile” in the result.
• If you take turns driving week by week, each driver pays their own fuel and it evens out.
• The calculator only covers fuel. Parking, tolls or wear on the car are extra, if you want to share them.

How to spend less on your daily drive

• Drive smoothly: hard acceleration and braking can lower your mpg by 10–40% in stop-and-go traffic, according to fueleconomy.gov.
• Avoid rush hour if you can: in heavy congestion, at 5–7 mph on average, fuel use per mile is 1.7–2.1 times that of normal town driving (Barth and Boriboonsomsin).
• In town, air conditioning costs much more than on the open road, because it uses almost the same amount per hour and you cover fewer miles: air conditioning or windows down.
• Don’t carry extra weight, or a roof box you are not using: roof boxes and luggage.

More ideas, with figures, in how to cut your commuting fuel costs.

Frequently asked questions