Moving Truck Fuel Costs by Route

Fuel prices are the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly retail averages for the week ending October 19, 2026. EIA measures 9 states directly for gasoline and California alone for diesel. Every other state is estimated from its EIA region's published price, adjusted for that state's own fuel tax (January 2026 rates), which lands within about $0.07 a gallon when tested against the states EIA does publish. The state price map explains that model in full.

Each route is priced state by state, not as a single blended average. We estimate which states a lane crosses and how much of the drive falls in each, then charge that share of the gallons at that state's price. A Chicago to Phoenix move spends most of its fuel in the cheap middle of the country, and averaging the two endpoints would miss that.

Distances are straight-line estimates with a 1.2x road factor, not turn-by-turn routing, and the states crossed are sampled along that line. On interstate lanes this is close. On routes that detour around geography, such as anything skirting the Great Lakes or the Appalachians, treat both the mileage and the state list as approximate.

Diesel is modelled more heavily than gasoline. EIA publishes weekly diesel prices for California and for each region, but not for the other eight states it breaks out for gasoline, so every state except California is estimated here. The regional signal is still real and the tax adjustment still applies, but treat a single state's diesel figure as a wider estimate than its gas equivalent.

Fuel economy is a flat 10 mpg for the medium truck and 8 mpg for the extra-large truck, which is typical for a loaded box truck at highway speed. A heavy load, mountains, a headwind or a roof rack will all push real consumption higher. These figures cover fuel only: not the rental itself, tolls, mileage charges, insurance or the deposit.