Road Trip Total Cost Calculator
Add up the full cost of a road trip — fuel, food, lodging and extras — and split it per traveler for a true door-to-door budget.
How it works
Fuel = distance ÷ mpg × price · Food = food/day × days · Lodging = rate × nights · Total = fuel + food + lodging + extras · Per person = total ÷ travelers
People plan road trips around fuel, but food and lodging almost always dwarf it — a few nights in hotels can cost more than the gas for the entire route. Adding all four buckets and splitting per traveler turns a vague "let's drive" into a number you can actually budget against and compare with flying. Fuel is the only line that barely grows with more passengers, which is why road trips get cheaper per head the more people ride along.
Worked example
Driving 1,200 miles at 28 mpg and $3.50/gal burns ≈ 42.9 gal ≈ $150 of fuel. Add 5 days of food at $90 ($450), 4 nights of lodging at $120 ($480) and $100 of extras for a $1,180 total — about $295 per person for four travelers.
Frequently asked questions
Why is fuel such a small part of the total?
On multi-day trips, lodging and food accumulate every day while fuel is a fixed function of distance. It is common for fuel to be under 20% of a road trip's true cost once hotels are included.
Should I include vehicle wear?
This tracks cash spent on the trip. For a fuller picture, add roughly 15–25 cents per mile for maintenance, tires and depreciation on top of the fuel line.
How does the per-person split work?
It divides the whole total — fuel, food, lodging and extras — evenly by the number of travelers. If some people cover their own meals or rooms, subtract those before splitting the shared costs.
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This calculator is for educational purposes. Double-check important results before acting on them.