# The cost of car ownership, by state **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [July 23, 2026, 3:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980 "2026-07-23T15:24:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 3:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/1 "2026-07-23T15:24:38Z")
… according to _Visual Capitalist_… ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/0/d/0d144f823cb1e67776f78f608eece9d869ba6b49.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/2 "2026-07-23T15:55:24Z")
They should have added property taxes too. Virginia local governments may assess annual taxes on the value of big ticket items, like vehicles. I don’t know if all local governments do, but my mother paid a tax on her car when she lived near Montross, VA. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 5:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/3 "2026-07-23T17:12:06Z")
South Dakota used to have a personal property tax. I got a notice one year to list my stuff so I could pay tax on it. I was a student so never paid and it was eliminated at some point. I thought it was crazy but the people seemed to accept it. Just a warning about how crazy government will get if you let them and how complacent people can get. ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/4 "2026-07-23T17:13:21Z")
> [@jtsanders](#): > > I don’t know if all local governments do Neither Ohio nor Florida have a value tax. Ohio was a flat fee for passenger vehicles (and light duty trucks) while Florida’s is a weight based fee. Under $100. Additional taxes in Ohio for hybrids and EVs. Back in the 90’s Arizona - Maricopa County - had a value tax on automobiles. Apparently no more based on this > **[Vehicle Property Tax by State 2026 | Map & Taxes](https://usasymbol.com/rankings/taxes/vehicle-property-tax-by-state)** > > Twenty-one states levy an annual vehicle property tax on cars, while the other 29 rely on registration fees, title taxes, or sales tax. ---
**Author:** ![wolyrobb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/wolyrobb/32/45497_2.png) [@wolyrobb](https://community.cartalk.com/u/wolyrobb)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 11:45pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/5 "2026-07-23T23:45:06Z")
In the counties served by sound transit, there’s a 1.1% tax on the value of a registered vehicle based on a formula from msrp that’s in addition to registration fees. We paid an additional $230 for registration buying the prous in Tacoma and got it refunded with the plates a few weeks later. Apparently this dealer did it regularly even if they had a week to get the correct fees ---
**Author:** ![Beancounter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/59ef9b/32.png) [@Beancounter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Beancounter)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 12:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/6 "2026-07-24T12:06:43Z")
“Interesting” map but focusing only on fuel, insurance, repairs and sales taxes can be misleading. For example, New Hampshire (the lowest) has No Car Insurance requirement so is that cost excluded from New Hampshire’s annual cost of car ownership? In my State, which requires insurance, I’m paying about $1,000 per car per year. For fuel, was the annual average distance driven considered or just the cost per gallon? I’d imagine that a resident of some predominately Midwestern / Western States would travel and buy a lot more fuel than a Northeast urban resident. And for Sales Tax, that’s only a one time purchase cost but as already noted some States impose an annual Personal Property tax on vehicles so was that considered? Bottom line, overly simplistic and misleading “Click Bait”. ---
**Author:** ![Nevada\_545](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nevada_545/32/41232_2.png) [@Nevada\_545](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Nevada_545)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 10:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/7 "2026-07-24T22:41:41Z")
> [@Beancounter](#): > > For fuel, was the annual average distance driven considered or just the cost per gallon? I’d imagine that a resident of some predominately Midwestern / Western States would travel and buy a lot more fuel than a Northeast urban resident. I was thinking the opposite. I live in a western state. I don’t live 75 miles from town, nor do I rely on an all-wheel-drive SUV for daily transportation. My annual mileage and fuel consumption is rather low. ---
**Author:** ![Beancounter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/59ef9b/32.png) [@Beancounter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Beancounter)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/8 "2026-07-25T00:24:59Z")
> [@Nevada\_545](#): > > I was thinking the opposite. I live in a western state. I don’t live 75 miles from town, nor do I rely on an all-wheel-drive SUV for daily transportation. My annual mileage and fuel consumption is rather low. Of course, if you live outside of Las Vegas and have a 5 mile commute to the Strip your fuel consumption is low, if you live in Manhattan and walk / subway to work or live in a Mennonite outside of Philadelphia your fuel consumption is also low but that’s my point. Any “Average Cost of Whatever” is misleading because it’s a supposed “Average” and it’s also misleading because it doesn’t reflect the individual total costs of car ownership. The problem is that these “Click Bates” purporting to reflect the “State Average” of anything don’t reflect the “Actual” of anything because even within any State because there is wide individual diversity. An Upstate NY agricultural worker will have very different vehicle costs than a Manhattan worker, same for California and even in a tiny State like Maryland, the overall vehicle costs can vary dramatically depending on if you live in one of the 2 Metro areas or the more rural Eastern Shore or Western areas. My point is that we’re all foolishly accepting, acting upon and passing along these silly statewide generalizations “Because it’s on the internet, it must be right and nobody can lie on the internet”. 🤣 And thanks to Nevada 545 for pointing out the major flaw, ---
**Author:** ![asemaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@asemaster](https://community.cartalk.com/u/asemaster)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 1:01am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/9 "2026-07-25T01:01:01Z")
> [@Beancounter](#): > > I’d imagine that a resident of some predominately Midwestern / Western States would travel and buy a lot more fuel than a Northeast urban resident. I agree with that. I live in a city in the Pacific Northwest and drive about 20,000 miles per year. Just back and forth to work is 80 miles. On the other hand, my brother and his family have spent their lives living in smaller towns in Montana and Oregon. They typically buy new cars every 4 years/150,000 miles or so. When the family was younger it wasn’t unusual for them to drive 4 hours to watch a basketball game, eat dinner, then drive home. 3 active kids, living 27 miles from the grocery store, and the miles rack up. Now that his kids are grown, it’s nothing to hitch up the trailer, drive 450 miles to visit for a weekend, and then back home Monday. My kids are 16 and 19, and they regularly make a 250-mile drive to see friends in the city we moved from 4 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 1:55am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/10 "2026-07-27T01:55:05Z")
> [@Beancounter](#): > > New Hampshire (the lowest) has No Car Insurance requirement so is that cost excluded from New Hampshire’s annual cost of car ownership? The state doesn’t require insurance, but if you have a car loan the bank will require insurance. And if you have any assets you don’t want to lose then common sense also requires you to have insurance. ---
**Author:** ![TwinTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TwinTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TwinTurbo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/11 "2026-07-28T13:00:53Z")
NH also has no sales tax on the purchase. Not sure how they included the one time expense along with annual expenditures but that is a huge benefit to the cost of a car in NH- at least initially…we do have annual personal property taxes that start out high but rapidly decrease YoY. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 2:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/12 "2026-07-28T14:07:59Z")
> [@TwinTurbo](#): > > we do have annual personal property taxes that start out high but rapidly decrease YoY. Does the tax rate change or is it just depreciation of the asset that decreases the tax dollar amount? ---
**Author:** ![TwinTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TwinTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TwinTurbo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/13 "2026-07-28T14:09:01Z")
Depreciation. It is a rapid decrease, like a hockey stick. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 2:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/14 "2026-07-28T14:15:33Z")
Is that a good deal for classic car drivers? If the cars are valued to way most insurers value them, the assumed value is far less than the actual value. ---
**Author:** ![TwinTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TwinTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TwinTurbo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/the-cost-of-car-ownership-by-state/205980/15 "2026-07-28T14:19:22Z")
Yes. My 60s and 70s cars are less than $100 per year in PPT. They are worth a lot but valued as just an ancient car 😄