I've been tracking car prices obsessively for the past six months. Not because I'm shopping -- I just got curious about whether "cars are too expensive now" is actually true or just something people say.
Turns out, it's not just something people say.
The numbers are brutal.
CarGurus released their 2026 Mid-Year Review, and the average new car list price hit $50,900 this spring. That's up 3.3% since December. The number has been hovering near $50K since 2022, which means this isn't a spike -- it's the new normal.
Here's what really got me: in 2020, more than half of new car inventory was priced below $35,000. Today, there's more inventory above $50,000 than below $35,000. The market completely flipped in six years.
Who's still buying these things?
A surprisingly large number of people, actually. Cox Automotive forecasts 2026 new vehicle sales at around 15.8 million. That's down 2.4% from 2025, but still a massive number. And at the high end, full-size luxury SUVs priced above $80,000 are clearing lots in under 30 days. The Cadillac Escalade, averaging $122,000, sells in less than a month.
Where the real action is: used cars.
The gap between average new and used car prices has widened from $13,000 in 2015 to $21,000 today. So buyers are adapting. The share of used car sales for models 7 years and older has grown from 32% in 2020 to 40% today. Sales of vehicles with 60,000 to 150,000 miles are up 16%.
The top sellers in that category? Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, and RAM 1500 -- averaging around $20,000 with more than 120,000 miles.
EVs are getting cheaper, kind of.
Used EVs are finding their sweet spot in the $25,000 to $31,000 range. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, Chevrolet Equinox EV, Tesla Model Y, Kia EV6, and Hyundai Ioniq 6 are leading that segment. The Equinox EV starts at $34,995 new before the federal tax credit, which makes it one of the few genuinely affordable new EVs.
What I'd tell a friend shopping today:
If you're buying new, the value sweet spot is the $30K-$40K range -- cars at that price exist, they just move fast. If you're budget-conscious, a 7-year-old vehicle with good maintenance history is statistically the best value play right now. And if you want an EV, the used market is finally reasonable.
The $50K average isn't going anywhere. But the market is finding ways around it.
For more car buying data and model-by-model reviews, I write regularly at NextCarReview.com.
