ExplainersPickup trucks with the best EPA ratings by year
Pickup trucks with the best EPA ratings by year
For model year 2026 the highest-rated pickup is the Ford Maverick hybrid at 38 MPG combined, among small pickups. Among standard pickups the top rating is 25 MPG, held by the diesel versions of the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra, and the median standard pickup rates 19 MPG. That median was 15 MPG in 1995.
Two classes, and names that move between them
EPA sorts pickups into small and standard classes by gross vehicle weight rating, and the limits have changed over the years. The same nameplate can therefore sit in different classes in different years: the Ford Ranger appears among standard pickups for much of 1996–2007 and among small pickups for 2008–2011, and EPA rated no small pickups at all for 2004–2007. Ranks on this site only compare pickups within one class and one year, so these shifts never mix definitions. Counts on this page are of versions or nameplates EPA rated, not of vehicles sold, so nothing here is weighted by sales.
Standard pickups: fifteen years at 15 MPG
The median standard pickup was rated 15 MPG in every model year from 1984 through 1998. It edged up to 16 in the 2000s, reached 17 for 2013 and first hit 19 MPG in 2018. It has stayed at 18 or 19 since.
The top of the class moved more. Diesel versions led the first years, the Toyota Truck at 30 MPG for 1984 and the Jeep Comanche at 26 for 1986. From 1988 to 2007 the best standard pickups were the smaller trucks EPA counted in this class, such as the Dodge Dakota, the Toyota Truck and the Ford Ranger, at 21 to 23 MPG. From 2009 the Chevrolet Silverado 15 Hybrid led at 22 MPG in its best year. Diesel versions of full-size trucks then took over: the Ram 1500 from 2014, the Ford F-150 for 2018 and 2019, and the Chevrolet Silverado from 2020, which reached 27 MPG for 2020 and 2021.
Over the whole series a diesel version led the standard class in 17 of the 43 years and a hybrid in five; the rest went to gasoline versions.
The best conventional gasoline standard pickup is a different list. For 2026 it is the Ford Ranger 2WD at 23 MPG. A Ford Ranger version topped that list in 19 model years in all, more than any other pickup, and the best gasoline standard pickup has rated between 17 and 24 MPG in every year since 1985.
Small pickups: from diesel Isuzus to the hybrid Maverick
In 1984 EPA rated 14 small pickups with a median of 20 MPG; the best was the Isuzu Pickup diesel at 31. The class thinned out through the 1990s, to two nameplates by 2003. When it returned in 2008 it was led by the Ford Ranger, then by the Toyota Tacoma and the Chevrolet Colorado, whose diesel reached 25 MPG for 2016–2018.
The Ford Maverick hybrid changed the top of the class: 37 MPG for 2022, and 38 for 2025 and 2026, while its own non-hybrid version rated 26. For 2026 EPA lists only two small pickups, with a median of 23 MPG.
How many pickups EPA rates
The standard class held 16 nameplates in 1984 and peaked at 23 in 1990–1993. It shrank to six for 2015–2016 and holds 12 for 2026. The small class went from 14 nameplates in 1984 to two for 2026. With so few trucks in a class, a single new version can move the median, which is one reason to read the median and the best rating together.
The leader of a pickup class is almost always a two-wheel-drive version. Of the 82 class-year leaders since 1984, 79 carry 2WD or FWD in their EPA name. The AWD and 4WD explainer shows how much the drive usually costs.
| Model year | Small: best (MPG) | Small: median | Standard: best (MPG) | Standard: median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Ford Maverick HEV FWD, 38 (hybrid) | 23 | Chevrolet Silverado 2WD, 25 (diesel) | 19 |
| 2025 | Ford Maverick HEV FWD, 38 (hybrid) | 23 | Chevrolet Silverado 2WD, 26 (diesel) | 19 |
| 2024 | Ford Maverick HEV FWD, 37 (hybrid) | 21 | Chevrolet Silverado 2WD, 26 (diesel) | 19 |
| 2023 | Ford Maverick HEV FWD, 37 (hybrid) | 20 | Chevrolet Silverado 2WD, 26 (diesel) | 19 |
| 2022 | Ford Maverick HEV FWD, 37 (hybrid) | 21 | Chevrolet Silverado 2WD, 26 (diesel) | 18 |
| 2021 | Chevrolet Colorado 2WD, 23 (diesel) | 21 | Chevrolet Silverado 2WD, 27 (diesel) | 18 |
| 2020 | Chevrolet Colorado 2WD, 23 (diesel) | 21 | Chevrolet Silverado 2WD, 27 (diesel) | 19 |
| 2019 | Chevrolet Colorado 2WD, 23 (diesel) | 20 | Ford F150 Pickup 2WD, 25 (diesel) | 18 |
| 2018 | Chevrolet Colorado 2WD, 25 (diesel) | 20 | Ford F150 Pickup 2WD, 25 (diesel) | 19 |
| 2017 | Chevrolet Colorado 2WD, 25 (diesel) | 20 | Ram 1500 2WD, 23 (diesel) | 18 |
| 2016 | Chevrolet Colorado 2WD, 25 (diesel) | 21 | Ram 1500 HFE 2WD, 24 (diesel) | 18 |
| 2015 | Chevrolet Colorado 2WD, 22 | 20 | Ram 1500 HFE 2WD, 24 (diesel) | 18 |
| 2014 | Toyota Tacoma 2WD, 22 | 19 | Ram 1500 2WD, 23 (diesel) | 17 |
| 2013 | Toyota Tacoma 2WD, 23 | 19 | Chevrolet Silverado 15 Hybrid 2WD, 21 (hybrid) | 17 |
| 2012 | Toyota Tacoma 2WD, 22 | 19 | Chevrolet Silverado 15 Hybrid 2WD, 21 (hybrid) | 16 |
| 2011 | Ford Ranger 2WD, 24 | 18.5 | Chevrolet Silverado 15 Hybrid 2WD, 21 (hybrid) | 16 |
| 2010 | Ford Ranger 2WD, 24 | 18 | Chevrolet Silverado 15 Hybrid 2WD, 22 (hybrid) | 16 |
| 2009 | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 23 | 18 | Chevrolet Silverado 15 Hybrid 2WD, 21 (hybrid) | 16 |
| 2008 | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 23 | 18 | Dodge Dakota Pickup 2WD, 18 | 15 |
| 2007 | – | – | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 23 | 16 |
| 2006 | – | – | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 23 | 16 |
| 2005 | – | – | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 23 | 16 |
| 2004 | – | – | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 23 | 16 |
| 2003 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD, 22 | 18.5 | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 23 | 15 |
| 2002 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD FFV, 22 (flex-fuel) | 19 | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 23 | 15 |
| 2001 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD FFV, 22 (flex-fuel) | 19 | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 23 | 15 |
| 2000 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD, 23 | 19 | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 22 | 16 |
| 1999 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD, 23 | 18.5 | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 21 | 16 |
| 1998 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD, 22 | 19 | Nissan Frontier 2WD, 22 | 15 |
| 1997 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD, 23 | 19 | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 22 | 15 |
| 1996 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD, 23 | 20 | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 21 | 15 |
| 1995 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD, 23 | 18.5 | Dodge Dakota Pickup 2WD, 22 | 15 |
| 1994 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD, 22 | 19 | Dodge Dakota Pickup 2WD, 22 | 15 |
| 1993 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD, 22 | 19 | Dodge Dakota Pickup 2WD, 22 | 15 |
| 1992 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD, 22 | 19 | Mazda B2200/B2600i, 22 | 15 |
| 1991 | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 23 | 19 | Mazda B2200/B2600i, 22 | 15 |
| 1990 | Ford Ranger Pickup 2WD, 23 | 19 | Toyota Truck 2WD, 23 | 15 |
| 1989 | Dodge Ram 50 Pickup 2WD, 23 | 20 | Dodge Dakota Pickup 2WD, 22 | 15 |
| 1988 | Chevrolet S10 Pickup 2WD, 23 | 20 | Dodge Dakota Pickup 2WD, 22 | 15 |
| 1987 | Isuzu Pickup 2WD, 32 (diesel) | 21 | Jeep Comanche 2WD, 25 (diesel) | 15 |
| 1986 | Isuzu Pickup 2WD, 32 (diesel) | 21 | Jeep Comanche 2WD, 26 (diesel) | 15 |
| 1985 | Isuzu Pickup 2WD, 32 (diesel) | 21 | Toyota Truck 4WD, 23 (diesel) | 15 |
| 1984 | Isuzu Pickup 2WD, 31 (diesel) | 20 | Toyota Truck 2WD, 30 (diesel) | 15 |
Using these numbers
A pickup's EPA rating depends heavily on its configuration: drive, engine, payload package and tires. The Ford F-150 page lists the best and lowest version for each year it was rated; the gallons calculator lets you pick the exact version and see the yearly fuel volume at your own mileage. Size class pages for standard and small pickups list every year's leader and last place.
Sources: U.S. EPA and U.S. DOE, FuelEconomy.gov data (vehicles.csv), retrieved October 28, 2026; tables and medians computed by MPG by Model over model years 1984–2026. Model year 2027 is partial and left out. Not endorsed by EPA or DOE.