What does the drive really cost?
Rent is one line. The drive is the other. Pick your town, and compare a Howard City office with one somewhere else, in miles, hours, and dollars a year.
Driving to Howard City instead saves about
$0 a year
Howard City
- Miles a year
- Hours in the car
- Driving cost
The other office
- Miles a year
- Hours in the car
- Driving cost
An estimate, not tax advice. The drive between home and a regular office is generally commuting, which isn't deductible; trips from the office to clients usually are. Ask your accountant.
Why the drive belongs in the budget
An office that's ten minutes closer saves about 20 minutes a day in the car. Over a year of four-day weeks that's more than 60 hours, before fuel and wear. For a self-employed professional, those hours are either billable or free, and neither is nothing.
The calculator uses the distances on our location page and the IRS business mileage rate for July to December 2026, 76 cents a mile, as a stand-in for what a mile costs to drive. Change any assumption to match your own car and your own roads.
Keep going
- What a small office really costs
A worksheet for every other monthly line.
- Grand Rapids vs. Howard City
Where each one wins, and who each suits.
- Commuting to Howard City
Routes from every direction, and winter driving.