Vehicle Fuel Cost and Economy

EPA combined fuel economy and cost estimates for the 30 vehicles tracked here. Filter by category, or open a vehicle for a prefilled calculator and a full breakdown.

What drives the differences below

Fuel economy differences between the categories below mostly come down to weight and aerodynamics. A small economy car pushes less air out of the way and weighs less than a midsize SUV, so it needs less energy to cover the same mile, and that gap only grows with a full size truck's flat front end and open bed. Powertrain matters too: a hybrid recovers energy through regenerative braking that a conventional gasoline vehicle simply loses as heat, and an electric motor converts stored energy into motion far more efficiently than any internal combustion engine, which is why EV ratings, measured in MPGe, look so much higher than even an efficient gasoline car's MPG.

Every figure listed here is the vehicle's official EPA combined rating, sourced from the window sticker data EPA publishes for each specific trim and model year, not a manufacturer estimate or a third party average. Open any vehicle for its full city and highway breakdown, a calculator prefilled with its own numbers, and an annual cost estimate.

Frequently asked questions

For a typical gasoline vehicle, a combined EPA rating in the 25 to 30 MPG range is roughly average for the current US fleet, and anything above about 35 MPG is considered strong for a gasoline vehicle. Hybrids commonly land in the 40s to high 50s, while electric vehicles are rated in MPGe and typically show 90 to well over 130, reflecting how much more efficient an electric motor is at converting stored energy into motion than a combustion engine.

City and highway are separate EPA test cycles: city simulates stop and go traffic averaging around 20 mph, highway simulates a steady 48 mph cruise with no stops. Combined is a weighted average, typically 55% city and 45% highway, meant to represent typical mixed driving rather than either extreme, and it is the single number most shoppers use to compare vehicles.

A gasoline vehicle's highway rating is usually higher than its city rating, since there is no stop and go traffic to slow it down. Hybrids and EVs often show the opposite: their city rating is higher than highway, because regenerative braking recovers the most energy in stop and go conditions and provides little benefit at a steady highway cruise.

EPA's annual fuel cost estimate assumes 15,000 miles of driving per year at that vehicle's combined fuel economy rating, priced at EPA's assumed national average fuel cost, which is updated periodically and is not the same as your own local price. Use the calculator on each vehicle's page with your own annual mileage and local fuel price for a more personal estimate.

Probably not exactly. EPA ratings come from a standardized lab test meant for fair comparison between vehicles, not a guarantee of your own results. Aggressive driving, cold weather, short trips, and highway speeds above the test cycle's averages all tend to push real world fuel economy below the rating; see our guide on how EPA ratings are measured for the full explanation.

The dataset spans the vehicle categories shoppers cross shop most: economy cars, midsize sedans, compact and midsize SUVs, trucks, hybrids, and electric vehicles, using official EPA fuel economy and emissions data for each specific trim and model year rather than estimates.