Is there a required mileage reimbursement rate by state?

No state publishes a required per-mile rate for private employers. A minority of states, including California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia, have expense reimbursement laws requiring employers to cover necessary business expenses, which for vehicle use means actual costs. Everywhere else the federal FLSA sets the floor: reimbursement cannot push an employee's effective wage below minimum wage.

What is a typical per-mile cost for pizza delivery in 2026?

For a new compact sedan in delivery use at roughly 20,000 annual miles, documented actual costs in most US markets fall between about $0.40 and $0.52 per mile in 2026, with low-insurance Midwest and Plains markets at the bottom and high-insurance coastal and Gulf markets at the top. California, Louisiana, and dense urban ZIP codes can run higher. The $0.76 IRS rate exceeds actual cost in the large majority of markets.

Can employers use one reimbursement rate for all states?

They can, but it guarantees being wrong almost everywhere. Insurance premiums alone vary threefold between states and further between ZIP codes within a state. A single national rate overpays in low-cost markets and risks under-reimbursement claims in high-cost and statute states. Location-specific rates matched to each store's ZIP are both cheaper and more defensible.

RatesUpdated July 202613 min read

Mileage Reimbursement Rates by State: The 2026 Table for Delivery Operators

The spread between the cheapest and most expensive delivery states is wider than most operators expect.

There is no official state-by-state mileage reimbursement rate. No state labor department publishes a per-mile number private employers must pay, which is why searching for one returns a fog of IRS-rate articles that answer a different question. What actually exists is more useful: every state has a real, calculable cost of operating a delivery vehicle, and every state has a legal regime that determines what happens when reimbursement falls short of it.

This page puts both on one table. The rate ranges below are illustrative documented actual costs for a new compact sedan in delivery use at roughly 20,000 annual miles, built with the same methodology RatesReady uses in production: state insurance filings, regional EIA fuel prices, current vehicle values for depreciation, and standard maintenance and tire allowances. The legal column flags which of three regimes governs each state. Ranges are starting points; the compliant and cost-optimal number for any specific store is a ZIP-code calculation, which is the entire reason ranges appear here instead of single figures.

The three legal regimes

Before the table, the key to reading its last column:

Expense reimbursement statute. Roughly ten jurisdictions, including California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia, require employers to cover necessary business expenses regardless of the employee's wage level. California's Labor Code 2802 is the strictest and most litigated; we break it down fully in our California employer guide.
FLSA plus Sixth Circuit precedent. In Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, the March 2024 appellate ruling we covered in our lawsuit roundup is binding: neither the IRS rate nor a "reasonable approximation" automatically satisfies the law, and adequacy is measured against each driver's actual costs.
FLSA baseline. Everywhere else, the federal floor applies: under-reimbursement that drives an employee's effective wage below minimum wage is an FLSA violation, the theory behind nearly every pizza delivery collective action of the last decade.

The 2026 state table

Statute states are shaded green; Sixth Circuit states are shaded light green. Gap percentages compare each range midpoint to the $0.76 IRS rate in effect since July 1, 2026.

State	Illustrative delivery rate	Midpoint vs IRS $0.76	Legal regime
Alabama	$0.42 to $0.48	41% below	FLSA baseline
Alaska	$0.46 to $0.55	34% below	FLSA baseline
Arizona	$0.44 to $0.51	38% below	FLSA baseline
Arkansas	$0.42 to $0.48	41% below	FLSA baseline
California	$0.52 to $0.68	21% below	Expense reimbursement statute
Colorado	$0.44 to $0.52	37% below	FLSA baseline
Connecticut	$0.46 to $0.54	34% below	FLSA baseline
Delaware	$0.46 to $0.53	35% below	FLSA baseline
Florida	$0.41 to $0.58	35% below	FLSA baseline
Georgia	$0.44 to $0.53	36% below	FLSA baseline
Hawaii	$0.50 to $0.60	28% below	FLSA baseline
Idaho	$0.39 to $0.45	45% below	FLSA baseline
Illinois	$0.43 to $0.54	36% below	Expense reimbursement statute
Indiana	$0.40 to $0.46	43% below	FLSA baseline
Iowa	$0.39 to $0.45	45% below	Expense reimbursement statute
Kansas	$0.41 to $0.47	42% below	FLSA baseline
Kentucky	$0.42 to $0.49	40% below	FLSA + Sixth Circuit precedent
Louisiana	$0.50 to $0.62	26% below	FLSA baseline
Maine	$0.41 to $0.47	42% below	FLSA baseline
Maryland	$0.46 to $0.55	34% below	FLSA baseline
Massachusetts	$0.46 to $0.56	33% below	Expense reimbursement statute
Michigan	$0.44 to $0.60	32% below	FLSA + Sixth Circuit precedent
Minnesota	$0.42 to $0.49	40% below	Expense reimbursement statute
Mississippi	$0.44 to $0.51	38% below	FLSA baseline
Missouri	$0.42 to $0.49	40% below	FLSA baseline
Montana	$0.41 to $0.47	42% below	Expense reimbursement statute
Nebraska	$0.40 to $0.46	43% below	FLSA baseline
Nevada	$0.48 to $0.58	30% below	FLSA baseline
New Hampshire	$0.41 to $0.47	42% below	Expense reimbursement statute
New Jersey	$0.48 to $0.58	30% below	FLSA baseline
New Mexico	$0.43 to $0.50	39% below	FLSA baseline
New York	$0.46 to $0.62	29% below	FLSA baseline
North Carolina	$0.42 to $0.48	41% below	FLSA baseline
North Dakota	$0.39 to $0.45	45% below	Expense reimbursement statute
Ohio	$0.41 to $0.47	42% below	FLSA + Sixth Circuit precedent
Oklahoma	$0.42 to $0.49	40% below	FLSA baseline
Oregon	$0.43 to $0.50	39% below	FLSA baseline
Pennsylvania	$0.43 to $0.51	38% below	FLSA baseline
Rhode Island	$0.47 to $0.55	33% below	FLSA baseline
South Carolina	$0.44 to $0.52	37% below	FLSA baseline
South Dakota	$0.39 to $0.45	45% below	Expense reimbursement statute
Tennessee	$0.42 to $0.49	40% below	FLSA + Sixth Circuit precedent
Texas	$0.42 to $0.52	38% below	FLSA baseline
Utah	$0.41 to $0.47	42% below	FLSA baseline
Vermont	$0.40 to $0.46	43% below	FLSA baseline
Virginia	$0.42 to $0.49	40% below	FLSA baseline
Washington	$0.44 to $0.52	37% below	FLSA baseline
West Virginia	$0.42 to $0.48	41% below	FLSA baseline
Wisconsin	$0.40 to $0.46	43% below	FLSA baseline
Wyoming	$0.40 to $0.46	43% below	FLSA baseline

How to read your state

Low-cost states: the overpayment problem

Across the Midwest, Plains, and much of the South, documented actual costs sit 35 to 45% below the IRS rate. An operator paying $0.76 in Ohio or Iowa is not buying extra compliance; post-2024, the IRS rate is not a legal safe harbor even in FLSA-baseline states, so the premium buys nothing except a larger expense line. At 15,600 annual miles per driver, every $0.30 of gap is about $4,700 per driver per year.

High-cost states: the under-reimbursement problem

California, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, and urban New York flip the risk. Insurance is the driver: Louisiana and California premiums for delivery use are among the nation's highest, and dense urban ZIPs push per-mile fixed costs up sharply. In these markets, flat fees and even mid-range per-mile rates can sit below documented actual cost, which is recoverable with fees in statute states and actionable under the FLSA everywhere.

Wide-range states: the ZIP code problem

Florida and Michigan illustrate why single statewide numbers mislead. Jacksonville supports documented rates near $0.41 while South Florida insurance pushes markets toward the high $0.50s; suburban Detroit runs near $0.44 while specific city ZIPs justify $0.60. Two stores in the same state, same brand, same vehicles can have compliant rates 15 cents apart. That within-state spread is the strongest argument for per-ZIP rates and the reason our own market comparison is built at the metro level rather than the state level.

The one-table takeaway: in every state, the defensible move is the same. Reimburse recorded miles at a documented local rate. In cheap states that cuts cost 35 to 45% versus the IRS default; in expensive states it closes the gap a plaintiff would otherwise measure; in statute states it is simply what the law requires.

From a range to your number

The ranges above compress real variation in insurance territory, vehicle class, fuel region, and annual mileage. Getting from the range to a rate you can pay and defend takes four inputs per store: the ZIP, the vehicle classes your drivers actually operate, current state insurance filing data, and this month's fuel prices. RatesReady automates exactly that, computing documented per-ZIP, per-vehicle-class rates refreshed monthly with a full audit trail, starting at $49 per location per month. Request a demo and we will pull the actual numbers for your stores, in any state on this table, live on the call. You can also estimate your current exposure in 30 seconds with our under-reimbursement calculator.

Rate ranges are illustrative estimates for a new compact sedan in delivery use at approximately 20,000 annual miles and vary materially by ZIP code, vehicle class, driver profile, and data period. Legal regime descriptions are general summaries, not legal advice. Consult qualified counsel about your specific obligations.