Add up the real annual cost of your commute — fuel, parking, tolls, depreciation, and the dollar value of your time.
Free commute cost calculator that estimates the all-in price of driving to work using the IRS 2026 standard mileage rate, your time value, and recurring out-of-pocket costs.
Direct answers to the most common questions, in plain language. Skim if you're in a hurry; dig deeper below.
Often $7,000–$15,000 once you include time and depreciation.
A typical 30-mile round-trip, 5-day-a-week commute costs $3,000–$5,000 in pure fuel and parking, plus $2,500–$5,000 in vehicle depreciation, plus thousands more in the dollar value of your time. For most office workers, the real number lands well into five figures per year.
$0.67 per mile (use this for true cost of driving).
The IRS standard mileage rate for 2026 is approximately $0.67 per mile. That covers gas, depreciation, maintenance, insurance, and tires. It is the simplest single number to estimate what a mile of driving really costs you.
Often yes — a $10K commute is a $14K+ pre-tax raise.
If your commute costs $10,000 a year and you save it by working remotely, that is equivalent to a $13,000–$15,000 pre-tax raise depending on your bracket. Many people accept lower-paying remote roles and come out meaningfully ahead.
Subtract the commute cost from the higher offer first.
A job paying $15,000 more but 90 minutes further away can easily be a worse deal once you add fuel, parking, depreciation, and 250+ hours of unpaid time per year. Always net out the commute before comparing offers.
The mechanics in short answers — no jargon, no upsell.
Gas (round-trip miles ÷ MPG × price per gallon), parking, and tolls, multiplied by your number of work days per year. Most people stop here and dramatically undercount.
Every commute mile wears down your car. The IRS standard mileage rate of $0.67/mi bundles depreciation, maintenance, and tires into a single, credible number.
Two hours behind the wheel is two hours you cannot work, exercise, or rest. We convert (minutes × 2 × work days) into dollars at the wage you enter — the largest cost for most professionals.
Annual cost compounds. Over a 30-year career, even a modest commute often totals more than a starter home. The lifetime view changes how you think about every relocation decision.
Designed so anyone can model their situation in under a minute, with or without a finance background.
Gas, parking, tolls, depreciation, and insurance — every line item that quietly drains your paycheck.
Convert minutes-per-day into dollars-per-year using your real hourly wage. The result usually shocks.
Instantly see what 100% remote or hybrid would save you across a full year, no math required.
A higher salary 50 miles away may net out worse. This calculator surfaces the gap in seconds.
A closer apartment often pays for its higher rent through commute savings alone.
See 10-year and 30-year totals — the “commute tax” is one of the largest hidden line items in a career.
Everything you might ask before, during, or after using this tool.
The IRS standard mileage rate for 2026 is roughly $0.67 per mile. That figure bundles gas, depreciation, routine maintenance, tires, and a portion of insurance. It is widely used by accountants, the federal government, and most reimbursement schemes as the credible all-in number.
Yes. Time is the single largest commute cost for most professionals. A 60-minute round-trip at $40/hr is $40/day, $9,600/year, before fuel or parking. If you exclude time you will dramatically undercount what your commute actually takes from you.
A defensible rule of thumb is your hourly wage (annual salary ÷ 2,000). For freelancers and contractors, use your billing rate. For a more conservative number, use 50–70% of your wage to reflect that not every freed-up hour is billable.
Often, yes. If moving 20 minutes closer saves you 160 hours and $4,000 a year, that justifies $300–$500/month in extra rent for many earners. Run the calculator with your current commute, then again with a 10-minute one, and look at the delta.
Going from 5 office days to 0 typically saves 80–100% of fuel, parking, tolls, and commute depreciation, plus all the time. For a typical US commute that ranges from $5,000 to $15,000 per year — a meaningful pre-tax raise.
The commute tax is the informal name for the recurring annual cost imposed by moving to a cheaper suburb. Lower rent or mortgage is often partially or fully offset by higher fuel, parking, vehicle wear, and lost time. Calculate both sides before you assume the suburb is cheaper.
Yes, there is an optional field for the extra insurance premium attributable to commuting. Many insurers charge more for vehicles used to commute vs. pleasure-only. If yours does, enter the annual delta; otherwise leave it blank.
Cars depreciate roughly $0.20–$0.30 per mile from wear alone, and another $0.10–$0.20 per mile from age. A 25-mile round-trip, 240 days a year, runs 6,000 commute miles — about $4,000 in depreciation alone, separate from fuel.
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The IRS standard mileage rate is the simplest, most defensible per-mile number for the true cost of driving. For 2026 it sits at roughly $0.67 per mile and includes fuel, depreciation, routine maintenance, tires, and a portion of insurance.
You can compute your own per-mile number if you track everything obsessively, but for budgeting and decision-making the IRS rate is almost always within 10–15% of the truth — and far better than “just count the gas.”
Going fully remote typically eliminates 80–100% of commute-related costs and 100% of commute time. For a typical office worker that is $5,000–$15,000 in cash plus 250–500 hours per year — equivalent to six full work-weeks returned to your life.
Hybrid (3 days in, 2 remote) saves roughly 40% of the cash cost and 40% of the time. It is a real win, but the leverage is in the days you avoid driving, not the days you go in.
The classic suburban arbitrage — cheaper house, longer drive — is real, but smaller than most people assume. A house that is $400/month cheaper but 30 minutes further usually loses most of that gap to fuel, depreciation, and the time cost of two extra hours a day in the car.
Run this calculator with your current commute, then again with the longer suburban one. If the delta is more than your monthly savings on housing, the cheaper house is actually more expensive.
A $15,000 raise that adds 60 minutes of round-trip driving usually nets out to a wash — or worse — once you add fuel, depreciation, and the time cost. Meanwhile, a lateral move to a job 10 minutes from home can functionally feel like a $10,000 raise.
The commute calculator above lets you price these decisions before you make them, instead of discovering in year two that the dream raise made your life smaller.
Two short notes worth reading before you trust any number on this page.
Your loan amount, rate, and prepayment inputs never leave your device. No accounts, no cookies on your numbers, no analytics on the values you type. Disconnect from the internet and it still works.
We are not a bank, NBFC, advisor, broker, or distributor of any financial product. The numbers shown here are estimates for educational purposes only, based on the inputs you provide.
Results are not financial, legal, or tax advice. Please consult a qualified professional before any decision about your loan, investments, or personal finances. Actual loan terms and charges depend on your bank and individual circumstances.
