High Diesel Prices Have Increased US School Costs by $1.1 Billion

• U.S. school districts and fleet operators spent an estimated $1.1 billion more on diesel fuel over the past year, compared to the prior 12-month period.

• In the U.S., the cost to power an electric school bus for a year has risen 12%, compared to diesel-burning buses, which has increased 35%.

School districts and fleet operators in the U.S. spent an estimated $1.1 billion more on diesel fuel in the past 12 months than they did in the previous period, straining school budgets as diesel prices soared above $6 per gallon for the first time on record.

Based on publicly available data on the national average price of diesel, an annual average of 14,000 miles driven per bus and an average fuel economy of 6.59 miles per gallon, we estimate that across the approximately 417,600 diesel-burning school buses in use nationally, a total of $1.1 billion more was spent on diesel fuel from November 2025 to October of this year than during the preceding 12-month period. School districts and fleet operators spent an estimated $4.3 billion on diesel fuel, reflecting a 35% increase.

Many school districts and fleet operators have switched to electric school buses in recent years, avoiding the rising costs of diesel fuel and uncertainties from the global oil market. Today, more than 8,600 electric school buses are on the road — 12 times as many as five years ago.

While electricity prices have also risen over the last 12 months, increases have not been as sharp as diesel prices. In addition, electric school buses are much more efficient than diesel buses, making them less expensive to power than fossil fuel burning buses.

Even prior to recent increases in diesel fuel costs, electric school buses were less expensive to power than diesel-burning school buses. As diesel prices have increased this year, that difference has grown. Diesel costs soared beginning last March with the start of the Iran war and have remained high through the rest of this year, peaking above $6 per gallon in September.

National average diesel prices were under $3.50 per gallon before the beginning of the war and have been above $5 per gallon in all but four weeks since the conflict began.

These higher fuel costs make electric school buses even more attractive for schools — going beyond the health and climate benefits they provide — as the total cost of ownership gap narrows between diesel and electric school buses. Electric school buses are more expensive to purchase than their diesel-burning counterparts but have lower fuel and operations costs.

Experts expect the purchase price gap to close in the coming years. Over the last five years, inflation-adjusted purchase prices have dropped for the most common type of electric school bus, while the cost of diesel school buses is increasing.

Until purchase prices achieve parity, funding from national and state government programs will continue to play a key role in making electric models accessible for schools, particularly those in lower-income and under-resourced areas.

Given the harmful impacts of diesel exhaust pollution on children’s health and academic performance, the climate benefits of electric school buses, and the higher operational costs of diesel buses, electric school buses allow schools to cut fueling costs and pollution at the same time.