What it costs to run a car in United States — 2026 Index

Medians from 10,663 cars with official certified consumption data, priced at current United States fuel prices. A typical car costs US$11.55 per 100 km to fuel; a typical electric car costs US$3.94 — about US$1,470 a year cheaper over 12,000 miles.

The headline numbers

Cheapest cars to run in United States

The 15 lowest fuelling costs per 100 km among petrol-fuelled cars with certified data.

Cheapest electric cars to charge

Lowest cost per 100 km on home charging, using the official certified efficiency figure.

Most expensive cars to fuel in United States

The 10 highest fuelling costs per 100 km — mostly performance and large SUV models.

All markets compared

See the full 11-market comparison.

Methodology and sources

Consumption figures are the official certified values from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (fueleconomy.gov), Natural Resources Canada, and the UK Vehicle Certification Agency — the same homologation data manufacturers are required to publish. Fuel and electricity prices are the current national averages compiled in our market configuration and sourced on each market's page.

Costs are fuel or electricity only. They deliberately exclude insurance, servicing, tyres, repairs, depreciation, road tax and the periodic roadworthiness test, because all of those depend on the driver and the car. Add them with the ownership cost calculator.

Annual figures assume driving 12,000 miles a year. Certified consumption is measured on a test cycle; real-world consumption is typically higher, and NEDC-cycle figures (older UK data) are optimistic compared with WLTP. Where several trims share a model-year we use the median, so a car with one frugal and one thirsty trim is represented by the midpoint.

This is original analysis, not a re-publication. The dataset, the computation and the exclusions are all stated above so the numbers can be checked and cited.