A short commute can quietly add up to a real annual expense once you account for every round trip, every week, all year. Our commute cost calculator turns your daily drive into concrete dollar figures.
The math
Round-trip miles = One-way distance × 2
Daily cost = (Round-trip miles ÷ MPG) × Gas price
Monthly cost = Daily cost × Commute days per week × 4.33
Yearly cost = Daily cost × Commute days per week × 52The distance is doubled because a commute is a round trip — you drive to work and back home again — and using 4.33 weeks per month (52 weeks ÷ 12 months) gives a more accurate monthly figure than a flat “4 weeks” assumption.
Example
A 15-mile one-way commute in a 28-MPG vehicle at $3.50/gallon, driven 5 days a week: about $3.75 per commute day, $81.19 per month, and $975 per year in fuel alone.
What this doesn’t include
Just fuel — a complete commute cost picture would also factor in vehicle depreciation, maintenance, insurance, parking fees, and tolls, all of which can add substantially more to your real commuting expense.
Using it to compare alternatives
Try adjusting the inputs to model changes — carpooling (splitting the cost across riders), a more fuel-efficient vehicle, or fewer commute days via remote work — and compare the resulting yearly totals to see which change actually saves the most money.