Cross country road trips are such a wonderful American tradition. New Jersey to California is a great route.
Driving from New Jersey to California will take you 6-7 days of driving. The trip will cost roughly $107 per person per day. The average 7 day road trip cost $1,734. Calculate your gas and toll costs, create a food budget and plan lodging to make the trip stress free and memorable.
Planning a cross country road trip takes three major steps:
- Calculate Gas Costs
- Create a Food Budget
- Plan Lodging
How to calculate gas costs for a road trip
Gas cost are just something we have to plan for on road trips, it is the set cost that we cannot avoid, having that money planned for a set aside is the first step to plan a trip.
There are two main ways that you can come up with the cost of gas for your trip.
Finding Your Own Car’s Gas Mileage
Start by finding out your car’s miles per gallon. You can do this by filling up your tank and writing down the miles on your odometer.
Next time you fill up, write down the new mileage and the number of gallons you put in the tank.
Subtract the old miles from the new miles to find out how many miles you have driven, then divide that number by the number of gallons you put in.
That is your miles per gallon.
This video gives a very simple explanation:
So now you know how many miles you can drive with one gallon of gas. Driving from New Jersey to California will be about 2,890 miles, divide that number by your MPG. This is the number of gallons you will need for the trip.
This number is a good estimate for your budgeting.
Use Averages to Set a Gas Budget
You can find an average miles per gallon (MPG) for your car, or for cars made in the same year as yours. Average MPGs stay in a pretty tight range for each type of vehicle.
Average MPG by Vehicle Type:
| Make | 2010 | 2020 |
| Sedan | 23.4 | 32 |
| Truck | 17.2 | 19.5 |
| Average of all Types | 17.5 | 25.7 |
Here are some calculations I made with these averages:
| Miles Per Gallon | Gallon of Gas | Cost of Trip |
| Average MPG for cars newer than 2020: 25.7 | Average cost of a gallon of gas in 2021: $3.31 | $360.62 |
| Average MPG for light trucks and vans: 17.5 | $3:31 | $482.91 |
| Average MPG for cars in 1999: 21.4 | $3.31 | $394.90 |
These numbers give you a pretty good idea of what you should plan to spend on gas for your trip, but the cost of gas varies WIDELY from state to state and even gas station to gas station.
Check the averages here on AAA, and use an app like Gas Buddy to plan your fill ups ahead of time.
Creating a Food Budget for a Road Trip
This is my favorite part of a trip, planning the food!
Start by planning to spend the same amount you would spend in a week at home. You would already be spending that if you were not on the trip, so this does not need to come out of any special budget.
I did a survey of about 100 road trippers and found that the average cost of food per day was $21.04 per person. You can read more about how some road trippers got that cost down to about $7, read this post with all the details.
So, on your trip from New Jersey to California that would be $147.28.
Find Lodging
Lodging costs can vary widely.
Where can I sleep on a cross country road trip:
Parking Lots in your Car
With Friends
Boondocking
Campgrounds
AirBnB/Verbo
Hotel
There are variations on these options, but this is the list.
If you are comfortable sleeping in your car it is a good option. Be sure to check with managers at Walmart if you plan to spend the night, as each store has their own policy.
Boondockers Welcome have their own terms and conditions when it comes to spending the night with one of their hosts, but it is a free option.
If you are looking to avoid hotels, this post has 11 alternative ideas to avoid the cost of hotel stays.
This cost can be avoided if you are on a shoestring budget, get a friend to take the trip with you and switch off driving. This can be really dangerous if you get drowsy driving, so be safe and pull over when you get tired.
I like to plan my trips around visiting friends and family, this cuts down on lodging costs and I just love seeing friends.
Planning a Trip from New Jersey to California on Google Maps
Google Maps is a great tool for planning road trips, it is used by many many people worldwide, but it is not built for trip planning.
I recommend that you plan your trip on a computer then send the trip to your phone. You can share trips with this button:
Then enter your starting and ending point.
There are three major routes for a cross country road trip, you can find more details on all the possible trips in this post, but for NJ to CA you want to take the most northern route, probably some of Route 50.
Play around with the route to find one that gets you through the cities you hope to visit.
I like to use Google Maps to plan cities that I would like to visit.
Google Maps does not show very many attractions when you are planning a long trip like this, so I just research cities that I am passing. I have step by step screenshots in this post. I think you would really like it.
If you find yourself in a city and want to see what there is to do, I recommend that you check out this post that walks you through how to use Google Maps to explore a city.
How much money do I need to drive from New Jersey to California?
A cross country road trip will take 6-7 days each way. The average 7 day road trip cost $1,734. So, a 12-14 day road trip will cost approximately $3,468. Gas costs range between $600-900 and food costs about $300. These costs vary widely depending on your vehicle and preferences.
The easiest way to save money on a road trip from NJ to CA is to use an app like Gas Buddy to fill up at times when gas is cheaper. You can also save money by packing your own food and choosing affordable lodging.
It will be worth it to consider sleeping in your car when it is possible, this will save you hundreds of dollars.
How many days will it take to drive from New Jersey to California?
New Jersy to California is roughly 2,890 miles, it is recommended to drive between 300 and 500 miles a day, so the trip will take between 6 and 10 days. Do not drive more than 600 miles in a day unless you have two or more drivers.
The 222 rule for a relaxing road trip recommends that you drive no more than 200 miles a day, arrive before 2 pm and stay for two nights. If you follow that rule, this trip would take about 30 days. This would mean that a cross country round trip would take two months.
This post can help you plan your two month road trip.
