Trip cost per person calculator, with cost per night

When to use this calculator

Use it while you are planning, before anyone has paid for anything. It answers the first question a group asks, what the trip will cost each person, so people can decide whether to book and the person collecting deposits has a number to ask for. After the trip the question changes to who owes whom, and the group trip expenses calculator is built for that.

How to calculate trip cost per person

Add the shared costs, then divide by the number of people. The calculator groups the costs into five buckets so nothing is forgotten:

• Lodging: the hotel, rental or campsite, all nights added up.
• Transport: flights, car rental, gas, tolls, parking and trains the group shares.
• Food and drink: groceries, restaurants and drinks the group shares.
• Activities and tickets: tours, passes and rentals the whole group joins.
• Other shared costs: anything shared that fits nowhere else.

Enter each bucket as a total for the whole group, not a price per person. Cost per person is the trip total ÷ the number of people. Cost per person per night is that figure ÷ the number of nights, and it lets you compare a four-night trip with a seven-night one.

Worked example: six people, four nights

These totals are made up to show the arithmetic. They are not typical prices for any place.

Cost	Group total	Each of 6 pays
Lodging	$1,800	$300
Transport	$660	$110
Food and drink	$780	$130
Activities and tickets	$360	$60
Other shared costs	$90	$15
Trip total	$3,690	$615

The trip total is $1,800 + $660 + $780 + $360 + $90 = $3,690, and $3,690 ÷ 6 = $615. Over four nights, $615 ÷ 4 = $153.75 per person per night.

What happens to the leftover cents

Division often does not come out even. Suppose other shared costs were $91 instead of $90, which makes the trip total $3,691. Then $3,691 ÷ 6 = $615.1666, and nobody can pay a fraction of a cent.

Rounded down, each share is $615.16, and 6 × $615.16 = $3,690.96, which is 4 cents short. So four people pay $615.17 and two pay $615.16: 4 × $615.17 + 2 × $615.16 = $2,460.68 + $1,230.32 = $3,691.00. The calculator shows $615.16 as the cost per person and 4 under “People who pay 1 cent more”. EvenOut works on the same principle: its splits are cent-accurate, and remainder cents are shared out so the shares always add back to the expense.

Common mistakes

• Entering a price per person. Every box takes the whole group’s total, otherwise the result is divided twice.
• Mixing currencies. The calculator adds the numbers as they are, so put every cost into one currency first. EvenOut does not convert; there you log each expense in the currency you paid and balances are kept per currency.
• Counting people who share only part of the trip. An equal split suits people who share every cost. Someone who joins for two of the four nights should not owe the same lodging as the rest.
• Reading the per-night figure as a price. It is a comparison number. Nobody pays it one night at a time.

Next steps

Put the numbers in writing with the group trip budget template, and see how to make a group travel budget for getting everyone to agree on them. For a drive, the road trip gas cost calculator gives the transport figure.

Once the trip is on, make a group of the type Trip in EvenOut, add the dates if you like, and log each shared expense as it is paid. EvenOut has no daily expense limit on the free plan, so a day with many receipts is fine.