<!-- canonical: https://mondaydiesel.com/costpermile/diesel-cost-per-mile -->
<!-- Machine-readable Markdown for agents. Append .md to any page URL; index at https://mondaydiesel.com/llms.txt -->

# Diesel fuel cost per mile

86.1 cents a mile for the week of Aug 31, 2026, at a stated 6.5 mpg reference. About $430.69 of fuel for a 500-mile haul. Fuel only; not an all-in operating cost.

_Data through Aug 31, 2026 · source last checked Sep 1, 2026 · page revised Sep 1, 2026_

> At the stated 6.5 mpg reference, this week's $5.599/gal puts fuel at 86.1 cents a mile, about $430.69 for a 500-mile haul. The week's move trims about $4.08 from the fuel cost of a 500-mile haul.

## The numbers

| Period | Cost per mile (6.5 mpg) | Fuel for a 500-mile haul | Week of |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| This week | 86.1 cents/mi | $430.69 | Aug 31, 2026 |
| A week ago | 87.0 cents/mi | $434.77 | Aug 24, 2026 |
| A month ago | 82.3 cents/mi | $411.38 | Aug 3, 2026 |
| A year ago | 57.4 cents/mi | $287.23 | Sep 1, 2025 |

## About Diesel fuel cost per mile

Every figure on this page uses a stated reference efficiency of 6.5 miles per gallon, a plain mid-fleet figure for a loaded Class 8 truck. It is a fixed reference for comparing weeks, not an estimate of any particular truck; a rig running 7.5 mpg spends about 13% less per mile than the reference, one at 5.5 mpg about 18% more. The 500-mile haul line is the same math over one round figure of distance: about 77 gallons burned.

The underlying price is EIA's Monday on-highway diesel release, the same index on the DOE number page. This page only restates it in the unit an operator actually plans in.

## About this data

- Source: Derived from EIA weekly on-highway diesel survey
- Series: Fuel cost per mile at a 6.5 mpg reference
- Basis: Fuel only, 6.5 mpg reference efficiency
- Geography: United States
- Unit: cents/mile
- Calculation period: Weekly (survey week)
- Last observation: Aug 31, 2026
- Update frequency: Weekly

---
Cite: US diesel fuel cost per mile: 86.1 cents/mi for the week of Aug 31, 2026 at a 6.5 mpg reference, from EIA's on-highway diesel price. Monday Diesel. https://mondaydiesel.com/costpermile/diesel-cost-per-mile
Canonical URL: https://mondaydiesel.com/costpermile/diesel-cost-per-mile