May 28, 2026
In 2011, artist and social media personality Foster Huntington started the hashtag (1) #vanlife when he was travelling around the U.S. in a camper van and sharing his experience online.
"Home is where you park it" he wrote on Instagram (2). Since then, #vanlife has amassed 18.7 million posts and Huntington's online fame was just the tipping point when living out of a souped-up van started to be portrayed as a "lifestyle" rather than a necessity.
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Now, with real estate prices so high, even those with means are embracing the nomadic lifestyle.
Recent data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) (3) found that the median existing-home sales price in 2026 increased by 1.4% from the previous year to $408,800.
This is the 33rd consecutive month of year-over-year price increases. NAR Chief Economist (4) Dr. Lawrence Yun said that this "price growth has helped the typical homeowner accumulate $128,100 in housing wealth over the past six years."
It's no easier for people looking to rent rather than buy either. Zumper's National Rent Index (5) showed the median one-bedroom rent was up 0.4% in April to $1,508, while two-bedrooms grew 0.8% to $1,895.
Zumper reports that this continuing growth trend could put "both bedroom types on pace to hit all-time highs before summer ends."
As a result, choosing an alternative lifestyle, living rent and mortgage free in a van might seem pretty enticing.
According to the RV Industry Association (6) (RVIA), most recreational vehicle (RV) long-haulers — people who have "embraced the lifestyle to its fullest, spending significant parts of the year traveling in their RV" — spend their entire year living in their RV. Long haulers make up 6% of RV owners and 17% of this group make over $75,000 annually.
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This shows that even those with above-average income are leaning into this lifestyle.
How much does van life cost?
Even people claiming to have high net worth are opting for this lifestyle, despite having the means for something more costly.
In 2025, Financial Times (7) writer Hugo Cox spoke to Tim Eklund who, along with his wife Lois, sold their detached house in Denver and ski home near Vail for millions of dollars. The Eklunds then purchased a "class A" motorcoach to live in full time, seeing as Tim was already working from home.
So, how does the cost of living in a van actually compare to that of living in a home?
An analysis by Damian Knapczyk for Rover Vans (8) estimated that van life costs around $600 to $1,000 a month, depending on your lifestyle and the amount of travelling you do.
One of the biggest cost savings for those choosing to live this way is rent.
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Knapczyk compared some typical costs for renting with their equivalent expenses for van life and found that renting could cost you approximately $2,020 to $3,400, while living in a van would cost you $870 to $1,970. By these standards, you're definitely saving money living in a van, but you also will have to pay some upfront costs when purchasing a van and making it liveable and this can make a decent dent in your bank account. Then there's also the unknown and unexpected costs of repairs.
Still, the lower utility bills and avoiding the long term debt that comes with buying a home, are definitely upsides to this lifestyle.
One major caveat to van life, regardless of your income, is fluctuating gas prices. This would always be a factor to be considered, but it is especially relevant now as gas prices rise astronomically.
Romano and Linda Sims, a couple in their 70s, provide one example of having to rework their nomadic retirement lifestyle on account of skyrocketing gas prices. The pair sold their $2.1 million home to live in a $700,000 "BoomerBus." But the fuel crisis means the pair is spending as much as $10,656 more per year than they budgeted when they first made the lifestyle change.
Quick quiz
When did Foster Huntington start the #vanlife hashtag?
According to GasBuddy, (9) the national average gas price is up 32.6 cents from one month ago and is $1.31 per gallon higher than a year ago. Whether this is enough to deter people — wealthy or not — such fluctuations should be a factor when deciding whether this is a lifestyle change you can truly afford.
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
The Inertia (1); Instagram (2); National Association of Realtors (3),(4); Zumper (5); RV Industry Association (6); Financial Times (7); Rover Vans (8); GasBuddy (9)
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Em Norton is a Content Specialist at moneywise.com. They have been with the company since 2022.
