[OC] Inflation & Mileage Adjusted US Gas Prices Since 2005

Sources: EIA monthly retail gas prices, BLS CPI for inflation, EPA Automotive Trends Report for mileage

Tool: Claude

Dotted line is the inflation adjusted gas price in 2026 dollars, solid line is inflation & mileage adjusted.

I guess this could imply that the cost of driving has actually gone down, since cars have become more fuel-efficient. Just one problem though:

The cost of vehicles has gone up (and they probably wear out faster too).

Maybe do a graph of the *total cost of ownership* of a car, factoring all of this in? Would be interesting to see…