How Much of a Driver’s Monthly Income Is Spent on Gas? [State-by-State Study]

More than three-quarters of workers in the U.S. commute to work each day, with the majority of those workers driving their own vehicles to and from their place of employment. Beyond commuting, millions of people regularly use their personal vehicles to run errands, go out to eat, take vacations, and do so many more things that require driving every single day.

While being able to drive where you want when you want is convenient, it comes at a cost. Cars, trucks, and SUVs require some kind of fuel, and while electric vehicles are gaining in popularity, they still only make up a fraction of cars on the road. As it stands, gasoline is still king when it comes to fueling the majority of vehicles, meaning that Americans across the country have to pay up at the pump whenever their tank gets low.

Due to a range of factors, fuel costs can hit harder and have more of an impact on someone's bottom line in some states more than others. With that in mind, the FinanceBuzz team looked at data on gas prices, earnings, and vehicle usage to find the states where drivers spend the biggest and smallest percentage of their income on gas.

Key findings

• The average U.S. driver spends 2.28% of their monthly income on gas.
• Six of the 10 states that spend the highest percentage of their monthly income on gas are in the South. Mississippi and Wyoming residents pay the most, though New Mexico residents follow closely behind.
• Drivers in Washington, D.C., New York, and Rhode Island pay the lowest percentage of their monthly income at the pump.

How much drivers in each state spend on gas

The amount that drivers spend on gas and the impact that has on their bottom lines can vary greatly based on things like how much money they earn to begin with, how many miles they drive on average, and, naturally, how much gas costs where they live.

We accounted for all those factors when calculating the percentage of income that the average driver spends on gas in every state.

Across the country as a whole, we found that Americans spend 2.28% of their income on gas, though there are some states where that number is as high as 3.73% and others where it drops as low as 0.76%.

States where drivers spend the biggest share of their income on gas

When looking at the states where drivers need to budget the highest percentages of their income for fuel, one thing sticks out: people living in these states drive a lot.

Ranking	State	% of income drivers spend on gas
1	Mississippi	3.76%
2	Wyoming	3.65%
3	New Mexico	3.47%
4	Alabama	3.46%
5	Arkansas	3.43%
6	Indiana	3.31%
7	Missouri	3.08%
8	Louisiana	3.04%
9	Montana	3.04%
10	Florida	2.98%

With the exceptions of Montana and Florida, every state listed here ranks among the 10 states where people drive the most, with the average person driving more than 1,000 miles per month in each of those places. And while Montana and Florida don't crack the top 10 or the 1,000 mile mark, they do get close, with drivers in those states clocking more than 940 miles driven per month, high enough to land in the top 15 in the country.

A few of the states listed here are some of the larger states in the country in terms of area and are home to a good number of more rural communities where residents have no choice but to drive if they want to go just about anywhere. When common tasks like taking the kids to school, shopping at the grocery store, or going out to eat require a lengthy drive, the miles add up while the gas tank (and your wallet) drains.

Beyond miles driven, a number of these states rank near the bottom when it comes to income. The median incomes in Mississippi and Arkansas are the two lowest in the country, under $50,000 each, while New Mexico and Louisiana rank fourth- and fifth-lowest on that metric. Alabama and Florida are also in the bottom 10 in the nation when it comes to median income.

The difference in how much less money people in these states make and how much more time they spend behind the wheel compared to the rest of the country is significant. It's enough to make it so that people in these places spend more of their income on gas despite often having some of the lowest gas prices in the nation. In fact, the average cost for a gallon of gas in Mississippi is the second-lowest of any state, while Louisiana and Alabama rank third and fifth, respectively, in terms of gas affordability.

Despite that, drivers in those states spend some of the largest portions of their income on gas out of anywhere in the country thanks to the combination of low median incomes and high monthly mileage totals.

States where drivers spend the smallest share of their income on gas

In contrast to the states where drivers spend the highest percentage of their income on gas, the states where people spend the lowest portion of their earnings on gas tend to be smaller, more urbanized states with higher median incomes.

Ranking	State	% of income drivers spend on gas
1	District of Columbia	0.77%
2	New York	1.22%
3	Rhode Island	1.38%
4	Massachusetts	1.47%
5	New Jersey	1.56%
6	Connecticut	1.70%
7	Pennsylvania	1.80%
8	Maryland	1.81%
9	New Hampshire	1.81%
10	Minnesota	1.91%

Residents of Washington, D.C., drive just 440 miles per month on average, the lowest total in the country. D.C., while not technically a state, is a highly urbanized area and has a robust public transportation system. It makes sense that people living there would be able to carry out their lives with minimal driving required. The silver and bronze medalists when it comes to not spending money on gas, New York and Rhode Island, are also the only states besides D.C. where residents drive fewer than 600 miles per month on average.

In addition to driving less than other states, residents of the places listed here also tend to have higher starting incomes, meaning that whatever money they do spend on fuel has a smaller impact on their overall budget. The median income in Washington, D.C., for example, is over $100,000, the highest in the country, while median earnings in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland all top $70,000, among the 10 highest in the country.

Changes in gas prices in the last decade

A crucial element in any analysis of how much drivers spend on gas is, of course, the price at the pump. While prices for many consumer goods tend to increase at a relatively steady rate, gas prices tend to change in a more unpredictable way, rising some years and falling in others.

Using data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we are able to show changes in the average price for a gallon of gas every year from 2015 to 2025. In that time, costs dropped as low as $2.18 per gallon during the pandemic when people were staying inside instead of driving, and spiking as high as $4.67 in 2022 when life had largely returned to normal but pandemic-related supply chain issues were driving up prices for many items.

All told, the price for a gallon of gas has risen by 16% over the last decade, less than half the national rate of inflation over that same time period (35%).

Full data set

State	% of income drivers spend on gas	Median monthly income	Gas cost per gallon	Average miles traveled per person per month
Alabama	3.41%	$4,271	$2.75	1,199
Alaska	2.20%	$5,163	$3.76	684
Arizona	2.83%	$4,710	$3.33	905
Arkansas	3.45%	$4,006	$2.79	1,120
California	2.51%	$5,492	$4.56	682
Colorado	1.94%	$5,545	$3.08	791
Connecticut	1.69%	$5,942	$3.11	731
Delaware	2.08%	$5,024	$3.15	749
District of Columbia	0.76%	$8,396	$3.27	440
Florida	2.82%	$4,316	$2.92	940
Georgia	2.83%	$4,486	$2.89	992
Hawaii	2.44%	$5,029	$4.45	622
Idaho	2.84%	$4,461	$3.49	819
Illinois	2.01%	$5,164	$3.40	689
Indiana	3.21%	$4,489	$3.14	1,039
Iowa	2.28%	$4,608	$2.88	824
Kansas	2.59%	$4,371	$2.82	907
Kentucky	2.73%	$4,273	$2.92	901
Louisiana	3.00%	$4,232	$2.72	1,056
Maine	2.35%	$4,721	$3.14	799
Maryland	1.82%	$5,924	$3.17	767
Massachusetts	1.47%	$6,394	$3.06	695
Michigan	2.41%	$4,780	$3.29	790
Minnesota	1.93%	$5,397	$2.97	794
Mississippi	3.73%	$3,844	$2.69	1,208
Missouri	3.08%	$4,499	$2.84	1,106
Montana	3.03%	$4,478	$3.23	948
Nebraska	2.39%	$4,630	$2.90	863
Nevada	2.79%	$4,356	$3.77	727
New Hampshire	1.83%	$5,540	$3.03	754
New Jersey	1.57%	$6,004	$3.06	696
New Mexico	3.39%	$4,230	$2.87	1,127
New York	1.22%	$5,551	$3.15	483
North Carolina	2.66%	$4,446	$2.86	934
North Dakota	2.78%	$4,833	$2.89	1,052
Ohio	2.46%	$4,713	$3.32	788
Oklahoma	2.81%	$4,161	$2.68	986
Oregon	2.41%	$5,157	$3.97	707
Pennsylvania	1.84%	$5,015	$3.29	634
Rhode Island	1.38%	$5,463	$3.04	561
South Carolina	2.82%	$4,307	$2.80	981
South Dakota	2.67%	$4,392	$2.98	890
Tennessee	2.84%	$4,352	$2.77	1,007
Texas	2.25%	$4,625	$2.72	863
Utah	2.53%	$5,107	$3.30	884
Vermont	2.38%	$5,050	$3.10	874
Virginia	2.18%	$5,386	$3.06	866
Washington	1.97%	$5,990	$4.40	605
West Virginia	2.40%	$4,249	$3.00	769
Wisconsin	2.51%	$4,780	$3.07	884
Wyoming	3.63%	$4,602	$3.10	1,220
National average	2.28%	$5,006	$3.16	816

How to cut costs on the road

• Save on car insurance: To save money on car insurance, do your research and shop around. You could find a deal if you consider the best car insurance companies.
• Get the lowest premiums: Use Insurify to compare affordable coverage options and secure a competitive rate.
• Use credit cards: Many credit cards offer valuable rewards on your purchases, including at gas stations. Reward yourself when you fill up your tank by using one of the best gas credit cards.

Methodology

FinanceBuzz used the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Transportation (March 2025) to find the total number of road miles traveled by all people in each state. We then divided that number by each state's population, using the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau to find the average number of vehicle miles traveled per person in a month by state. We used AAA data collected in August 2025 to find the average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline in each state. We used the most recent data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2023) to determine the average fuel efficiency of all light-duty vehicles (i.e. passenger vehicles such as cars, trucks, and SUVs).

We found the median annual income for full-time, year-round workers in every state using the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, then divided that by 12 to find the median monthly income. Each state's average vehicle miles traveled was then divided by the average fuel economy for light-duty vehicles (22.6 mpg) to determine the number of gallons of gasoline needed to travel that distance. That number was then multiplied by the average cost for a gallon of gas to determine how much the average person spends per month to travel the average number of vehicle miles traveled in each state for both cars and trucks. The average monthly cost for gas in each state was then divided by the median monthly income per state to determine the percentage of income that people spend on gas in each state.

Data on the average price for gas from 2015-2025 was pulled from the Consumer Price Index published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and represents the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline.