Free Travel Calculator
Drive or Fly?
Compare door-to-door cost, time, and CO₂ for any US city pair — powered by real BTS flight data, EPA fuel economy, and live gas prices.
Popular Comparisons
Iconic US routes where the choice between driving and flying actually matters.
Los Angeles, CA → San Antonio, TX
1,354 mi · drive vs fly
Miami, FL → Houston, TX
1,186 mi · drive vs fly
Houston, TX → El Paso, TX
744 mi · drive vs fly
Dallas, TX → El Paso, TX
635 mi · drive vs fly
Austin, TX → El Paso, TX
577 mi · drive vs fly
San Antonio, TX → El Paso, TX
552 mi · drive vs fly
Sacramento, CA → San Diego, CA
505 mi · drive vs fly
San Diego, CA → San Francisco, CA
502 mi · drive vs fly
Las Vegas, NV → Reno, NV
431 mi · drive vs fly
Brooklyn, NY → Buffalo, NY
384 mi · drive vs fly
Los Angeles, CA → Sacramento, CA
384 mi · drive vs fly
Los Angeles, CA → San Francisco, CA
382 mi · drive vs fly
How the calculator works
Driving
OSRM road routing for door-to-door distance and time. Fuel cost from live EIA gas prices and EPA fuel economy by vehicle type. Hotel + meals added for multi-day trips.
Flying
Average fares and on-time stats from BTS DB1B + On-Time Performance data. Door-to-door time includes drive to airport, security, boarding, deplaning, and drive from airport.
Train & Bus
Where service exists: Amtrak and FlixBus schedules from public GTFS feeds. Fares are estimated from published averages.
Common questions
Is it cheaper to drive or fly? ▾
Driving usually wins under 300 miles or with 3+ travelers — fuel cost scales slower than ticket cost. Flying wins above 800 miles for solo or couple travelers. The breakeven shifts with gas prices and current fares.
Does the calculator include door-to-door time? ▾
Yes. Flight time includes drive to airport, ~60 min security/boarding, the flight itself, deplaning, and drive from arrival airport. Driving time uses real road routing.
Where does the flight data come from? ▾
Average fares, on-time rate, and cancellation percentages come from US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) DB1B and On-Time Performance datasets — the most recent published quarter.
How accurate are the fuel cost estimates? ▾
Fuel cost uses live regional gas prices from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) plus EPA combined-MPG ratings by vehicle type. On the comparison page itself you can pick your year/make/model for exact MPG.