Everyday
Gas Price Travel Estimator
Planning a road trip? Enter the distance, your vehicle's fuel efficiency, and the current gas price — in miles/gallons or kilometers/liters, and any currency — to see the total fuel cost, and split it evenly if you're carpooling.
Total fuel cost
$62.50
Fuel needed
17.86 gal
Cost per mi
$0.125
Cost per person
$62.50
Assumes constant fuel efficiency and gas price for the whole trip — real costs vary with traffic, terrain, and price changes along the route.
How it works
The calculator first works out how much fuel the trip will burn: total distance divided by your vehicle's miles-per-gallon rating (or, in metric, distance times liters-per-100km, divided by 100). Multiplying that fuel amount by the price per gallon or liter gives the total cost.
Round trip simply doubles the one-way distance before the rest of the math runs — useful since most road trips need gas for the way home too, not just the way there.
Cost per person just divides the total by however many people are sharing the trip and splitting gas money, which is the actual number that matters when you're planning a carpool.
US: fuel needed = distance / mpg
total cost = fuel needed × price per gallon
Metric: fuel needed = (distance / 100) × L/100km
total cost = fuel needed × price per liter
Round trip: distance × 2 before the aboveFrequently asked questions
How do I estimate gas cost for a road trip?
Divide the total distance by your vehicle's fuel efficiency (mpg) to get the gallons needed, then multiply by the current price per gallon. A 500-mile round trip at 28 mpg needs about 17.9 gallons — at $3.50/gallon that's roughly $62.50.
Where do I find my car's mpg or L/100km rating?
Check your vehicle's window sticker (for new cars), owner's manual, or the manufacturer's spec sheet — combined city/highway mpg is the most realistic number for trip planning. Fueleconomy.gov has ratings for most US models if you don't have the original sticker.
Does this work outside the US, with liters and local currency?
Yes — switch the unit toggle to Metric for kilometers, L/100km fuel efficiency, and liters instead of gallons, and pick (or type) whatever currency you actually pay in — euros, pounds, dirhams, or any other symbol. The math and the result labels update to match.
How should we split gas money for a carpool?
Splitting the total fuel cost evenly by number of travelers, as this calculator does, is the simplest fair approach for a single shared trip. For recurring carpools with different drivers each time, many groups instead track total mileage per driver and settle up periodically.
Why doesn't my actual gas cost match the estimate?
This is a planning estimate, not a receipt. Real mpg varies with traffic, terrain, cargo weight, and driving style — often 10–20% below the sticker rating — and gas prices can differ by 50 cents or more between where you start and where you're headed.