The Cheapest U.S. Cities With Major Airports to Rent Cars

Chicago isn't generally considered to have an ultra-high cost of living relative to its coastal, urban counterparts. But the Midwestern city is the most expensive major city if you need to rent a car.

That's according to a NerdWallet analysis conducted in June 2024 of more than 480 rental car prices from eight major car rental companies in the United States.

Prices used were based on seven-night rentals of the company's lowest-priced rental car (typically a sedan). These sites were in areas with the 15 largest airports based on enplanements using 2023 Federal Aviation Administration data. Enplanements concern paying passengers who board an aircraft, including those boarding another as part of a layover.

Here are the metro areas with the 15 largest U.S. airports, ranked by average weekly car rental price from lowest to highest. Prices were based on both airport locations and off-site locations.

The three cheapest places to rent a car, on average, are Miami, Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida. In contrast, the three most expensive metro areas to rent a car are New York, Seattle and Chicago.

In Chicago, you'll pay on average about $625 to rent a car for a week, which is about 66% more than you'd pay to rent a car in Miami.

It's almost always more expensive to book a rental car at an airport versus at an off-site car rental location. In fact, rental cars average 18.4% more expensive when rented from the airport versus the same company albeit at a downtown outpost.

And by and large, the most expensive metro areas to rent a car generally host the airports with the highest rental car prices. In NerdWallet's analysis, Las Vegas and the New York metro area were the only places of the 15 metro areas studies where it was cheaper to rent a car from the airport versus downtown.

Here are the 15 largest U.S. airports by enplanements, ranked by average weekly car rental price from cheapest to most expensive:

It costs about $703 on average to rent a car for seven nights from Chicago-O'Hare Airport. That's 31% higher than the $536 average price to rent a car on the same nights — albeit from a location in downtown Chicago. Meanwhile, at Miami International Airport, the cheapest major U.S. airport to rent a car, average rates are only about 7% higher ($25 for a seven-night trip) than prices to rent a car elsewhere in Miami.

Airport rental cars tend to be more expensive than off-site locations for many reasons. Many airports tack on rental car fees that you won't find when renting a vehicle from the same company at an off-site location. These include customer facility charges and airport concession fees, which fund expenses like airport security and shuttles to rental car facilities. That's on top of taxes applied at the state and local levels.

At Chicago-O'Hare, the 2019 effective tax rate, including all taxes and fees, was about 51%, according to a March 2019 report titled "Reforming Rental Car Excise Taxes" from the Tax Foundation, an independent tax policy nonprofit. In 2022, those figures include a 5% Illinois state car rental tax, a 6% excise tax levied by the city's Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, and another 9% personal property lease transaction tax imposed by the city.

Book your trip backward: This year might be the time to book your rental car first rather than plan your vacation around flight or hotel deals (as is common). First, choose a city where you can find a great rental car deal, which could likely be Miami or Las Vegas. Then, search for a suitable mode of transport and where you'll stay.

Say you've settled on Las Vegas because its rental car rates are so low relative to everywhere else. You can travel to Las Vegas cheaply on points and miles, and from there, you might consider a road trip to the Arizona and Utah national parks.

Choose cities where you can take public transit instead: Sure, rental cars are expensive in Chicago, but you might not need one anyway. Chicago's Blue Line 'L' train provides 24-hour train service that can get you from Chicago-O'Hare Airport to downtown in about 45 minutes, which — depending on the time of day — might be faster than driving anyway.

Similarly, Seattle-Tacoma Airport is the second-most expensive major U.S. airport to rent a car from. But the light rail can take you directly to downtown Seattle in 38 minutes. In addition, by relying on public transportation, you'll save on gas and parking.

Use travel credit cards and join rental car loyalty programs: If you must travel to an expensive city and need a rental car, at least make the most of it. Charge your rental to a travel credit card with rental car benefits. The best credit cards for rental cars can offer bonus points and miles from your spending, and many come with benefits like rental car insurance coverage, which can sometimes save you hundreds of dollars.

And it's almost always a good idea to sign up for a rental company's loyalty program. Even without top tiers of elite status, these programs may offer member-exclusive rates and other benefits, such as members-only counters that can help you skip the line. Because even if you can't save money, at least you can use your purchases to earn rewards — or save you time.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2023, including those best for:

• Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

• No annual fee: Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

• Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card 

• Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

• Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

• Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card