- Mississippi drivers spend 3.78% of per-capita income on fuel each year, the highest burden in the country, about 6 times Washington D.C.'s 0.63%, the lowest.
- Wyoming has the highest raw dollar driving cost in the nation ($2,346/year) but only the 8th-highest burden (2.66%). Its high per-capita income absorbs a cost that would crush a lower-income state.
- 9 of the 10 highest-burden states have per-capita income below the U.S. figure ($75,117); 8 of the 10 lowest-burden states have per-capita income above it.
- Burden and raw dollar cost tell different stories: some of the "most expensive" states by raw cost rank only in the middle once income is factored in.
These are state averages; your actual fuel cost depends on your specific vehicle and driving.
Calculate Your Exact Cost01 How We Calculated Burden
Our States Where Driving Costs the Most article ranks states by raw annual dollar cost: vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) per capita, divided by the on-road fleet fuel economy, times the national average gas price. That raw-dollar ranking treats a $2,000/year cost the same whether you earn $50,000 or $100,000, but the real burden of that cost is obviously not the same. This article divides that same computed annual cost by each state's per-capita personal income (Bureau of Economic Analysis data, via the same FHWA Table PS-1 compilation) to produce a burden percentage: the share of the average resident's income spent on driving fuel.
FHWA, Highway Statistics Series, Table PS-1, 2024 edition (VMT per capita; BEA personal income per capita). Annual cost = VMT per capita ÷ 23.7 MPG (on-road fleet average, DOE/ORNL Transportation Energy Data Book, Table 4.3, 2020) × $3.30/gal (EIA national average). Burden % = annual cost ÷ per-capita personal income.This article applies the same national average price to every state. The States Where Driving Costs the Most article uses state-specific 2024 prices for the nine states EIA reports weekly, so its dollar figures for California, Washington and a few other states differ from the figures here. The state pages use current weekly prices and 2026 data, so their dollar figures differ again.
02 States With the Highest Burden
The states where driving eats the largest share of income are mostly in the South and Midwest, and most of them have per-capita income below the U.S. figure of $75,117.
FHWA Table PS-1, 2024 edition; calculated per methodology above| Rank | State | Burden | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | 3.78% | $1,954 |
| 2 | Alabama | 3.43% | $2,020 |
| 3 | New Mexico | 3.21% | $1,884 |
| 4 | Arkansas | 2.99% | $1,820 |
| 5 | Missouri | 2.81% | $1,851 |
| 6 | Indiana | 2.77% | $1,811 |
| 7 | Louisiana | 2.70% | $1,647 |
| 8 | Wyoming | 2.66% | $2,346 |
| 9 | South Carolina | 2.59% | $1,688 |
| 10 | Kentucky | 2.56% | $1,519 |
03 States With the Lowest Burden
The lowest-burden states pair high per-capita income with low per-capita driving, where residents drive fewer miles per person.
FHWA Table PS-1, 2024 edition; calculated per methodology above| Rank | State | Burden | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | Pennsylvania | 1.43% | $1,019 |
| 43 | New Jersey | 1.37% | $1,191 |
| 44 | Alaska | 1.36% | $1,045 |
| 45 | Rhode Island | 1.36% | $971 |
| 46 | California | 1.33% | $1,148 |
| 47 | Massachusetts | 1.29% | $1,228 |
| 48 | Washington | 1.24% | $1,094 |
| 49 | Connecticut | 1.23% | $1,195 |
| 50 | New York | 0.99% | $833 |
| 51 | District of Columbia | 0.63% | $715 |
Want your exact number instead of a state average? Enter your own vehicle and mileage.
Use the Calculator04 Why Raw Cost and Burden Diverge
Wyoming is the clearest example of why these two rankings disagree. It has the highest raw annual driving cost of any state, $2,346, driven by the country's highest per-capita VMT. But Wyoming also has the fourth-highest per-capita income of the 51, $88,091, more than $20,000 above states like Missouri and Indiana that rank higher on burden despite a lower dollar cost. The income absorbs the cost; the burden ranking captures that, the raw-dollar ranking can't.
FHWA Table PS-1, 2024 edition. Wyoming: $2,346 annual cost (rank 1 of 51 by raw cost), $88,091 per-capita income, 2.66% burden (rank 8 of 51 by burden).The scatter below plots per-capita income against annual driving cost for all 51 states plus D.C. States along the upper-left (low income, moderate-to-high cost) carry the heaviest burden; states toward the lower-right (high income, low cost) carry the lightest.
05 All 50 States + D.C. Ranked
The full ranking below covers all 50 states plus D.C., ranked by driving cost as a share of per-capita income, with the underlying annual cost and income figures alongside.
FHWA, Highway Statistics Series, Table PS-1, 2024 edition. See methodology above for the burden calculation.| Rank | State | Burden | Annual Cost | Income Per Capita |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | 3.78% | $1,954 | $51,753 |
| 2 | Alabama | 3.43% | $2,020 | $58,832 |
| 3 | New Mexico | 3.21% | $1,884 | $58,600 |
| 4 | Arkansas | 2.99% | $1,820 | $60,834 |
| 5 | Missouri | 2.81% | $1,851 | $65,875 |
| 6 | Indiana | 2.77% | $1,811 | $65,388 |
| 7 | Louisiana | 2.70% | $1,647 | $61,100 |
| 8 | Wyoming | 2.66% | $2,346 | $88,091 |
| 9 | South Carolina | 2.59% | $1,688 | $65,056 |
| 10 | Kentucky | 2.56% | $1,519 | $59,323 |
| 11 | North Carolina | 2.52% | $1,747 | $69,448 |
| 12 | Oklahoma | 2.48% | $1,634 | $65,897 |
| 13 | Montana | 2.45% | $1,781 | $72,625 |
| 14 | West Virginia | 2.45% | $1,336 | $54,619 |
| 15 | North Dakota | 2.44% | $1,793 | $73,359 |
| 16 | Georgia | 2.42% | $1,589 | $65,765 |
| 17 | Wisconsin | 2.39% | $1,635 | $68,529 |
| 18 | Tennessee | 2.29% | $1,590 | $69,553 |
| 19 | Kansas | 2.25% | $1,501 | $66,590 |
| 20 | Idaho | 2.24% | $1,518 | $67,830 |
| 21 | Iowa | 2.23% | $1,476 | $66,270 |
| 22 | Maine | 2.18% | $1,550 | $71,090 |
| 23 | Vermont | 2.17% | $1,561 | $71,888 |
| 24 | Michigan | 2.15% | $1,377 | $64,089 |
| 25 | Utah | 2.13% | $1,539 | $72,107 |
| 26 | Ohio | 2.11% | $1,369 | $64,922 |
| 27 | Nebraska | 2.09% | $1,555 | $74,330 |
| 28 | South Dakota | 2.08% | $1,641 | $78,943 |
| 29 | Florida | 2.04% | $1,613 | $79,222 |
| 30 | Arizona | 1.97% | $1,372 | $69,762 |
| 31 | Texas | 1.97% | $1,474 | $74,963 |
| 32 | Delaware | 1.93% | $1,398 | $72,321 |
| 33 | Minnesota | 1.88% | $1,444 | $76,751 |
| 34 | Virginia | 1.81% | $1,428 | $78,962 |
| 35 | Nevada | 1.74% | $1,275 | $73,467 |
| 36 | Oregon | 1.72% | $1,229 | $71,410 |
| 37 | New Hampshire | 1.65% | $1,400 | $85,095 |
| 38 | Maryland | 1.60% | $1,286 | $80,362 |
| 39 | Colorado | 1.55% | $1,328 | $85,698 |
| 40 | Illinois | 1.53% | $1,133 | $73,926 |
| 41 | Hawaii | 1.44% | $1,019 | $70,574 |
| 42 | Pennsylvania | 1.43% | $1,019 | $71,091 |
| 43 | New Jersey | 1.37% | $1,191 | $86,829 |
| 44 | Alaska | 1.36% | $1,045 | $76,935 |
| 45 | Rhode Island | 1.36% | $971 | $71,583 |
| 46 | California | 1.33% | $1,148 | $85,999 |
| 47 | Massachusetts | 1.29% | $1,228 | $95,021 |
| 48 | Washington | 1.24% | $1,094 | $87,983 |
| 49 | Connecticut | 1.23% | $1,195 | $96,889 |
| 50 | New York | 0.99% | $833 | $84,137 |
| 51 | District of Columbia | 0.63% | $715 | $113,233 |
06 Data Sources
- FHWA: Highway Statistics, "Selected Measures for Identifying Peer States" (Table PS-1), 2024 edition – VMT per capita and BEA personal income per capita by state. fhwa.dot.gov
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis: Personal income per capita by state, as compiled in FHWA Table PS-1. bea.gov
- EIA: Weekly Retail Gasoline Prices, national average. eia.gov
- DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory: Transportation Energy Data Book, Edition 40, Table 4.3 – on-road fuel economy of the light-duty fleet. tedb.ornl.gov