How much is the monthly spense (Average) in any USA park ?

[Hummer]

I want to figure it out the monthly cost of living a full time in a RV.

[sandsys]

Welcome to the best community to help you get started.

As to your question, it costs whatever you have to spend. If you have little you can boondock in the Arizona desert for free. If you have a lot you can rent space in an upscale RV park. If you have little you can buy cheap groceries and cook in your RV. If you have a lot you can go out to nice restaurants for all your meals. If you have little you can travel only short distances, for instance up and down a mountain, to keep the weather comfortable. If you have a lot you can tour the entires United States and beyond. There is no such thing as one average cost.

Linda Sand

[NDBirdman]

Welcome to the forum!  Your likes/dislikes will determine that.  If you figure out where you want to spend time, can be cheap, can cost the mortgage.  Look at the parks you want to go then google them, most have websites.  Most have rates depending on length of stay.  As much as $10 up to $100 or more/night.  Rates drop weekly, monthly, seasonal and yearly.  What you asked is a loaded question.

[Hummer]

Thank you NDBirdman Really i can not afford luxury, I'm in the middle-low class (Calling in some way). The parks are a fundamental issue in this RV adventure, i'm copying your suggestion. More comments are welcome, like pick the right Toy hauler brand. I heard many issues with the roof and the flooding in the inside due to the fail with the water dispensers.

[NDBirdman]

I know little about toy haulers yet.  1st thing you have to look at is your tow vehicle, there are big differences in capabilities.  What you have or will have will tell you the size you can safely handle.  Then, how many occupants?  Alone/wife/children/pets/toys, etc.  Boon-docking mostly or RV parks?  If boon docking, then water capacities, ability to live with/without electricity like solar or gen sets.  Lots of variables, all depends on your intended actions/living style.  Your pocket sounds like it is small so you don't, IMHO want new payments on a new vehicle/camper.  Limited, you can pick up a Class A or C used, older in good shape if your a good fixer-upper type person.  Tow a small trailer for your toys, etc.  Many-many ways to go.  There are folks that travel in/live in small van type campers.  If you've never camped/lived in an RV, ya might want to start small/entry level to see if it's for you before you get in too deep. 

If you want more detailed than what I suggested, you need to post alot more info on what you want/like/desire, etc.  I'm just a weekender going snowbird by next winter, I hope.  Some full timers will be along and help you alot more than I can.  Good luck!

[Twotoes]

Average cost of an average RV Park around the country is about $35 to $45 a night. Less per night if you pay by the week or month. Some in popular areas, like almost all of Calif will be $75 to $100 a night. Many areas will be lower, maybe $25 a night. If you go to Escapees parks or Co-Ops the average is about $20 to $25 a night. If you are a member of the Elks many have RV parking for around $25 to $30 a night. Most Elks are electric only. You can join Pasport America and get 50% off but PA has many conditions such as no weekends or holidays, limit 3 day stay etc but not all PA Parks enforce the rules. The time of year and location also dictate the cost. FL, TX and AZ can be more expensive in the winter, but AZ does have a lot of free boondocking in the desert. 

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

We have paid $119 a night in Billings MT KOA, and $240 a month in ALabama... It all depends.

[CincyGus]

I've camped in most of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and a little in Tennessee. Most State parks and National Forests in this area and many of the private campgrounds are in the $25-$40 a night range. Some give a discount of one night if you stay for a week (7 days/nights for price of 6). I'll second Passport America as a good option if your looking to cut costs, as long as there are campgrounds in the area's you want to camp. Generally finding one or two places that you can stay will get your minimal membership price back and it's all savings after that. 

Check out the RVing on a budget and Boondocking sections of the forum and you will have even more options for saving/cutting costs. 

Lastly, check out Harvest Hosts. I've heard great things about them as a single night stay option for just visiting their facility and spending a few dollars with them such as buying a bottle of wine or leaving a contribution.

Feel free to ask away about your specific toy hauler questions, I may be able to help. I have one and love the flexibility it offers and plan to Full Time in it in a few years when I retire for good!

 

 

[2gypsies]

Basically, you can find lovely public lands places which are FREE and RV 'Resorts' which can be $100 or so.  There is everything inbetween.  There are so many ways to stay somewhere..... city and county parks, fairgrounds, casinos, public parks (national, state, national forests, Corp of Engineers) and RV parks for $20 and up and the Resorts which are very pricey.  This goes for ALL states, including California.  It just depends what you want.

[IBTripping]

7 hours ago, Hummer said:

Thank you NDBirdman Really i can not afford luxury, I'm in the middle-low class (Calling in some way). The parks are a fundamental issue in this RV adventure, i'm copying your suggestion. More comments are welcome, like pick the right Toy hauler brand. I heard many issues with the roof and the flooding in the inside due to the fail with the water dispensers.

Hummer, Slow down. Let's start with the basics. Do you have a tow vehicle, year, make and model? If so, do you know it's maximum cargo and towing capacities or know where to find the capacities in your tow vehicle (TV)?

What are your rv plans? Do you plan to travel and stay short term in rv parks or are you planning to stay several months in one place before moving on? Do you plan to boon dock or dry camp and do you know what those terms mean? Why are you interested in a toy hauler? They are usually very heavy and most cannot be towed with a half ton pickup. In fact, any travel trailer over 7,000 lbs exceeds the capacity of most half ton pickups.

[Kirk W]

Welcome to the escapee forums!

As you may have concluded from the posts thus far, it is impossible to give you an average cost per night to stay in an RV park in the USA. The prices vary so much by the area that an average just doesn't tell you anything useful. If you stay near either the east or west coast it will cost you at least $70/night and probably more. If you stay in a rural area of the midwest it will be more in the range of $35/night. Near any major city, you can expect to pay around $45 - 50/night. If near major tourist attractions expect $75/night. Corps of Engineers parks are usually around $40/night with those holding a senior America the Beautiful pass discounted by half. If you join the Passport America or the Happy Camper discount groups then you can expect half price but it won't be in the parks near major attractions or in the prime tourist season. Many contributors to these forums have links in the signature line of their posts which will take you to websites or blogs that they keep where you can find a great deal of helpful information. I suggest that you spend some time visiting those sites and studying the information there. You will probably find it very helpful. 

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

Suggestion: don't ask people what the average cost is because they will (correctly) respond that "it depends."  

Instead ask people what THEY paid when they parked for a month last year.  That way they won't be able to respond with "it depends" because they either they know what they paid or they don't. 

In the Houston area, we are paying $500 with utilities included this winter.  Of course, "it depends" on which RV park you are talking about  

 

[NDBirdman]

You must figure out where what if when.  I'll give you an example of one place we are going to start staying at.  It's a Seattle suburb, extremely nice park (http://www.campgroundreviews.com/regions/washington/bothell/lake-pleasant-rv-park-3741)!  They told me because my camper is over 10 yrs old, I can not do weekly or monthly.  I have to do a nightly rate which was as of my visit last fall, $49.99/night regardless of how long we stay.  Can stay all winter but must pay that price per night.  Now, if my RV is less than 10 years old, I can stay at a $600/month rate.  That's about $30/night.

[NDBirdman]

A good long read with lots of info, start here.

 

 

[whj469]

There is really no average per month cost for an RV park. I couldn't find one in the Ft. Myers, FL area for the month of March 2019 for less then $1,500 but I can rent one of several in SE Texas for $300 per month. They are full hookups with 50AMP service. I am sure that you could boondock for a few dollars or even free if that is how you want to live.

[sushidog]

I have been rving for many rears, but I just started fulltiming the first of the year. I budgeted $375/month for my RV site with another $90/mo for electric and $10 for the occasional dump fee - making my total camping budget of $475/mo. So far I have come well under this and haven't paid the cheaper monthly rates yet. As a disclaimer it helps if you have a America the Beautiful golden age passport (one of you must be 62+) and are a Passport America member for shorter stays.

I started out in two beautiful Louisiana state parks moving every 2 weeks between the two which were only about 10 miles apart. It cost me $364/month which includes electric, free wifi, free use of washer and dryer, reserve america booking fees, etc.

I've stayed a couple weeks at a free army COE park with no hookups but on a beautiful lake, so figure maybe $6 a day for generator gas to keep my batteries charged and about $3 in propane to cook food, keep the fridge cool and ice in my drinks and to stay warm. $9/day for 2 weeks is $126. If I had sufficient solar it would have saved me $6/day, bring down my cost to only $42 for 2 weeks.

I stayed a couple nights in nice roadside rest areas while driving up to western NC, where I'll be visiting my son for a couple weeks. I am staying at a county RV park again on a nice lake for $100/wk with full hookups, electricity included. so I'm running electric heat, (like I was at the first 2 places I stayed that had free electricity) cutting my propane cost to less than a dollar a day. Unfortunately I must pay for my own laundry here at a cost of about $14-15/wk. Still $115/wk for 2 weeks is $230 + $126 for my previous 2 weeks = $356/mo.

When I leave here I'll spend a couple days at a nice RV park in the smokies (1/2 price or $22/night with Passport America) followed by 2 days of free  boondocking as I head to a nice $9/day COE park in Arkansas for a 2 wk stay - strategically placed to allow us to do a little mining at Crater of Diamonds SP. Then it's a couple free nights at rest areas (and my first ever, in all my years of camping at a Walmart) as we head out west for some very inexpensive rv parks and free boondocking.  So it appears we are actually averaging well under $400/mo and haven't enjoyed the cheaper monthly rates yet. YMMV.

Chip

[TLRam1]

Nice write-up Chip with real experiences on how you do it.

[Hummer]

I want to thanks everyone that make an effort to open my eyes in my new adventure and last in life.

[Kirk W]

There are things that you can do to lower the cost of RV sites. Many of us do volunteer work such as public park campground hosts or on national wildlife refuges helping out and in return get a full hookup site for working a few days each week. Another way is to join one of the campground discount groups like Passport America. If you join Escapees RV club they have 18 parks that you can stay in for a low cost. There are also places on public lands where one can stay free. Most RV parks have a monthly or weekly rate that is much less expensive than the daily rate. 

[rynosback]

I agree with what everyone has said.  It all depends on where and when will determine the cost.  The longer you stay the cheaper it will be.  There are some great memberships out there.  Some work better for others.  It all depends on how you travel.  I have paid 0 to $85 so far per night.  But I also just crossed the border of CA.  So I am sure that will change.