How much does Van Life Cost? A Breakdown of Expenses

When first researching van life and living on the road, one of the first questions that comes up is “how much does van life actually cost?” We’ve broken down the common van life expenses based on our real, personal experience and estimated costs each month.

We’ve been living in our van for the past five months, and previously lived on a boat where we shared monthly expense reports. Living on a budget while living on the road (or on the water) is familiar territory for us. After getting positive feedback from sharing how much the Great Loop costs, we wanted to continue financial transparency so others can budget for their own van life adventure.

Van Life Expense Breakdown

First, let’s break down van life expenses into categories. Many of these expenses are the same as living a traditional life in a stationary home, but there are a few additional expenses here and there. These van life cost estimated expenses are for two people. If you’re using this estimate for a solo van lifer, divide it by two. Since we’re sharing insight into our personal expenses, there may be expenses that we have that you choose not to purchase, or vice versa, that we may not have an expense that you intentionally buy. This is meant to be a realistic foundation of van life expenses.

To give you a little context about us, we’re in our thirties. We backpacked in our twenties and moved to a stage in our lives where we value organic groceries, a good night’s sleep, and spending money on experiences over things. We are NOT the most frugal or luxurious van lifers out there.

Van life is full of people with varying-sized vans, budgets, and lifestyles. This is by no means the only way to do van life, but it’s how we do it. Each person’s van life experience is completely customizable, as is each person’s or couple’s budget.

Fuel

Gas or Diesel are inevitable when living in a van. It’s the fuel we use to get around. As full-time travelers visiting all 50 states and US National Parks, we’re traveling quite a bit. There are a few factors that will determine your fuel bill, including:

• Speed of Travel
• Fuel Efficiency / Miles Per Gallon
• Heater Type
• Region of Travel

First, how fast someone travels will heavily determine their fuel cost. A slow and a faster traveler will have two very different fuel bills. If someone is traveling 1,000 miles in one month vs someone who traveled 250 miles in one month will have a smaller fuel bill. Second, the fuel efficiency of your van will determine how much fuel you use. An older van with less fuel mileage will have a higher fuel bill than a newer one with better fuel efficiency. Third, someone traveling in colder climates and with a heater connected to their tank, will inherently use more fuel than someone who travels with the seasons and isn’t using their heater. Lastly, the region where you’re traveling will also greatly affect your fuel bill. For example, someone who’s traveling in California will have a higher cost of fuel than someone traveling in Texas. So you can see there are many factors at play when determining a monthly fuel bill.

Our Average Fuel Total: $500/month

Paid Campsites

Paid campsites include National Parks, state parks, campgrounds, etc. Some van lifers prefer to stay at the paid campground for safety reasons, amenities, or because it’s the only option. Paid Campgrounds can range from $30/night to $80/night depending on the location, amenities, and area. This can add up quickly! Alternatives to campgrounds are companies like Harvest Hosts or Boondockers Welcome, where you pay a yearly membership fee to stay at local businesses like wineries, breweries, golf courses, nurseries, etc., in exchange for supporting their local businesses.

Try Harvests Hosts and receive a free month on us!

Members get unlimited overnight stays at thousands of small businesses, including farms, wineries, breweries & distilleries, and attractions, that invite RVers to park for safe and convenient stays.

Many van lifers are attracted to the stealth nature of van life; we indeed were! Stealth camping, or free camping, is a great way to reduce the cost of this category. Apps like iOverlander make this easy by listing BLM or National Forest sites, which are free to camp on for 14 days in 30 days. We’ve found BLM land much more prevalent out west, whereas free camping on the East Coast mainly consists of Walmart and Cracker Barrel parking lots.

Although we prioritize free camping, we sometimes pay for campsites because they’re more convenient, have amenities we need/want, or are the only option. It’s really dependent upon where we’re traveling, what we’re doing, and balancing what’s most convenient vs. the budget.

Our Average Campsite Total < $50 / month.

Estimated Campsite Total $0-$800/month

Groceries

The cost of groceries will usually depend on the grocery stores you shop at. For example, a grocery haul from Whole Foods will cost more than one from Aldi. Some areas of the country will have food deserts, limiting what you can buy, whereas others will have several grocery stores, allowing you to shop for the best deals. Traveling around in your van, you can shop at the local farmers’ markets. Sometimes they can be more expensive than Walmart or the budget grocery options, but they provide fresh and local ingredients while also supporting the local businesses.

We tend to prioritize organic when available, but these depend on your grocery shopping preferences. We also have a Costco membership, which we shop at once a month to get food cheaper in bulk. I know what you’re thinking… “how can you shop at Costco when you live in 80 sq. ft.?” We prioritize the few things that are cheaper in bulk, like nuts and seeds, meat sticks, and eggs. We intentionally built a large kitchen into our van. From the large fridge/freezer to the smart oven and induction stovetop, our kitchen is made to be used. We’re not buying a year’s worth of toilet paper at Costco for our van.

Estimated Groceries Total $800/month

Restaurants

Part of traveling is trying the local food and the cultural cuisines! We believe it’s important to include this number because it’s the counterbalance to the grocery budget. If we cook in the van more, we will eat out less. Alternatively, if we cook in the van less, we’ll eat out more. Some people may prioritize eating in instead of at restaurants to balance their budget, whereas others may want to enjoy more meals out. This category can really vary from person to person!

We love trying new restaurants and eating out, but we know it gets expensive quickly. We enjoy eating out once weekly for an average of $50/week.

Estimated Restaurants Total $200/month

Housekeeping

This van life cost category includes laundry, or anytime we pay for water. This category is similar to utilities when living a traditional life in an apartment or house. Most van lifers find water for free at a gas station and combine filling up their freshwater tanks with filling up on gas. Laundry can range from where you go to how many loads you do, and of course, you could do laundry in your van by hand to avoid the cost of laundry.

We’ve found that the more ‘local’ laundry mats are cheaper than the newer, more bougie ones. We do laundry about once a week, and it’s about $8-12 per week, which adds up to about $40/month. Typically, we find water for free on iOverlander. However, there were a few times when we paid $10 to fill up our tanks. I would estimate we pay less than $20/month for water.

Estimated Housekeeping Total $50/month

Van Projects/Maintenance

This includes any improvements to your van build or work done to the van. For example, newer diesel engines have to add DEF to their engines. Vans also need regular maintenance, including new tires, trips to the mechanic or dealership, oil changes, replacing engine parts, etc.

It’s important to budget for this category, even if the money dedicated to it adds up, because when a trip to the mechanic does happen, it can get expensive quickly. When choosing the best van for us for van life, we opted with a Mercedes Sprinter. Mercedes is known for their reliability, but it is also very expensive for maintenance. There are pros and cons with every van make and model. Choosing the best van for your budget is important.

Estimated Maintenance Total $100/month

RV Insurance

Ensuring our vehicle is critical since it’s our home and mode of transportation. If something were to happen to our van, we would not want to be in a position without insurance! We pay for our van insurance in a lump sum at the beginning of the year for $1,102, which comes out to be about $92/month. We recommend shopping around for van insurance, we use Roamly.

Estimated Van Insurance Total $100/month

Attractions/Tours

Part of the fun of van life is to travel around and to see new places. This category is for admission tickets, tours, or any of the local attractions that cost money to see. We prioritize experiences over things, which sometimes includes purchasing an Everglades Kayaking tour or canoeing through Congaree National Park or entrance into a museum to learn about the local history.

Estimated Attractions/Tours Total $100/month

Souvenirs

Like most travelers, we like to collect souvenirs. Whether it’s a patch or postcards at the National Park, a holiday ornament, stickers, or local art in the cities and towns we visit, souvenirs are a fun way to remember your trip. Not every van lifer will want to collect souvenirs, but it’s something to consider as you travel in your van.

Estimated Souvenirs Total $50/month

Healthcare

This includes health insurance and anything else that comes up, like doctor or urgent care visits. Insurance also varies from person to person. For example, someone who’s retired and has corporate insurance might not be directly paying for healthcare, as it already comes out of their retirement check, whereas a younger, self-employed individual might be paying out of pocket. This van life cost category can also vary depending on the type of insurance you have. We bought less expensive health insurance this past year, but it doesn’t cover much outside medical emergencies.

Estimated Healthcare Total $300/month

Gym Membership

Although a gym membership isn’t required, many van lifers choose to get a gym membership for access to the showers. Planet Fitness and Lifetime Fitness are the most popular options amongst vanlifers. For us, we share one membership as we’re always with each other. So we have a Planet Fitness black card, which allows one member unlimited access to their various locations, plus one guest.

Estimated Gym Membership Total $30/month

Internet/Phone Bill

Just like at home, having access to a phone and the internet is essential on the road. Some van lifers choose to use their phones for the internet, whereas others prefer to have a dedicated internet service. It depends on what you need it for, how many users are on your plan, and the data cap. For someone who is full-time adventuring and wants internet to check the weather, pay bills, and plan their trip, using their phone or a cheaper internet provider might be sufficient. Whereas someone working full-time on the road might prefer Starlink for more reliable internet.

We have a basic phone plan with unlimited data, but for the van, we use Starlink for internet on the road. Honestly, we wouldn’t be able to run our business without it. Before having Starlink, we had our phones and a hotspot, and it worked, sometimes. Since getting Starlink on our boat, we have never looked back.

Estimated Internet/Phone Bill Total $265/month

Personal

This category includes things like Netflix, Hulu, the occasional haircut, Spotify, and other things that are unique to our lifestyle. This category will greatly change person to person, but it is important to consider if you’re trying to get an accurate look at van life costs.

For example, we quit our Amazon Prime membership since we didn’t want to be enticed by easy shipping on the road, but that might be something that is important to you. Having a killer Spotify playlist on the road is valuable to us, but it might not be of interest to you. We love to listen to audiobooks while we drive to learn about the places we’re visiting. Often, we try to download free audiobooks from our local library through Libby, but other times, we use Audible.

Estimated Personal Total $50/month

Other

The miscellaneous items that don’t fit in the previous van life cost categories. This might include things like the National Park pass, State Park fees, firewood, tolls, Uber/Lyft, vehicle registration, etc. We paid $80 for the America the Beautiful pass, and it has been worthwhile as we’ve visited 10 parks in four months of full-time van life travel.

Estimated Other Total $0/month

Total Van Life Costs

For our lifestyle, the estimated total cost of van life is $2,545 for two people and a dog traveling full-time. Is that more or less than you expected? As mentioned, the cost of van life highly depends on how you do van life. Van life varies from person to person and budget to budget. Van life can be much cheaper than this, but it can also be much more expensive. For a full breakdown of our van build expense, check out this post.

Each month we’re on the road, we share the cost of van life through detailed spreadsheets breaking down our actual expenses. This is so you can see the real, not just estimated, expenses of life on the road as we travel full-time to all 50 states and US National Parks. We share our exact van life costs through monthly van life expense reports, so be sure to check back on the first of every month!

What do your van life expenses look like? Do you have any questions about van life costs?