Industry
Seasonal mileage for Phoenix and Minneapolis real estate agents
Tax deduction mileage for Phoenix and Minneapolis agents swings with Arizona heat and Minnesota winters, reshaping annual totals and Schedule C car expenses.
What to take away
- Weather changes how many business miles you log and when you log them. It does not change which rules apply or how you file.
- Phoenix runs a spring push, a July and August dip and a fall rebound. Long suburban tours keep monthly mileage high even when appointments thin out.
- Minneapolis drives its miles from April through October, and its winter miles cost more per mile.
- The deduction is business miles multiplied by the IRS rate for that tax year. Illustrative totals at 70 cents: $12,600 for 18,000 Phoenix miles, $9,800 for 14,000 Minneapolis miles.
- Only a monthly subtotal, written as you drive, proves a seasonal pattern after the year ends.
Which rate applies, and to which year
The IRS sets the business standard mileage rate once a year. The multiplier depends on the year you drove, not the weather. It was 67 cents a mile for 2024 and 70 cents for 2025.
Confirm the published figure for the tax year on your return before you multiply anything. (Publication 463)
Seasonality never touches that number. It touches the base. A July with 700 business miles produces a smaller Schedule C entry than a March with 2,000.
For agents weighing the two methods, a set of worked mileage rates examples shows how the answer moves with your business-use share.
Phoenix: heat rearranges the calendar
Phoenix is a spread-out market. New-build communities on the metro edges sit far from the central corridors, so one buyer tour can run 60 to 100 miles. Distance keeps monthly mileage high in a soft month.
Seasonal Driving Patterns by City
Phoenix, AZ
- Main constraint
- Summer heat
- Peak months
- Spring and fall
- Summer pattern
- Midsummer dip
- Winter pattern
- Heavy driving
- Trip style
- Long suburban routes
Minneapolis, MN
- Main constraint
- Winter snow and ice
- Peak months
- May to September
- Summer pattern
- Heavy driving
- Winter pattern
- Sharp dip
- Trip style
- Shorter metro routes
July and August are the soft months. Showings shift to early morning and evening, and buyers who can wait often do. Agents stack appointments instead, which raises miles per trip while trip counts fall.
Spring and fall carry the year. Snowbirds arrive, relocation buyers move in before the school year, and the calendar fills. Those months build the annual total.
Car and truck expenses go on Schedule C, line 9, in both cities. (About Schedule C)
Example: two annual totals, worked
The figures below are illustrative. Full-time agents in these metros typically log 8,000 to 20,000 business miles a year, depending on territory size.
Two annual totals
Phoenix agent
- Peak driving months
- March, April, October, November
- Weakest months
- July, August
- Illustrative annual business miles
- 18,000
- Deduction at 70 cents a mile
- $12,600
- Business miles in the weakest month
- 700
Minneapolis agent
- Peak driving months
- May through September
- Weakest months
- December through February
- Illustrative annual business miles
- 14,000
- Deduction at 70 cents a mile
- $9,800
- Business miles in the weakest month
- 900
The Phoenix agent logs more miles and takes the larger deduction. The Minneapolis agent logs fewer miles and spends more to run the car. A direct actual car expenses vs standard mileage comparison settles which method wins for your vehicle.
Say the Minneapolis agent spent $11,000 keeping the car on the road and drove it 85 percent of the time for business. Actual expenses give $9,350, a little under the standard rate. A heavier repair year can flip that.
Minneapolis: snow raises the cost per mile
Cold starts, road salt and snow tires push the cost per mile above what a Phoenix agent pays for air conditioning and heat-stressed tires. Fuel and repair bills reach the return only under the actual expense method.
Winter does not reduce the fixed costs. Insurance and parking stay the same in a month with 900 business miles as in a month with 2,200.
Spring is the rebound. Once the roads clear and sellers list, mileage climbs fast, and an agent can post most of the annual total between April and October.
A seasonal swing changes what each mile costs as well as how many miles get driven. A plain mileage rates cost breakdown shows how a rate turns into a number on line 9. Two agents with the same calendar can land on different deductions.
Logging a seasonal pattern that holds up
A log earns its keep when it is written at or near the time of the trip. The IRS expects contemporaneous records plus receipts for the costs you claim. (Topic no. 510)
- Record the date, destination and business purpose for each trip.
- Note the odometer reading on the first and last day of the year.
- Subtotal by month so peaks and dips stay visible.
- Multiply annual business miles by the rate for that year, or apply your business-use percentage to total costs.
- Enter the result on Schedule C, line 9, and keep the log with your tax file.
A trip from home to your first listing is commuting, and commuting miles do not count. A trip from that listing to the next one is business mileage.
The annual total is what gets filed, but the monthly shape is what explains it. Reconcile both against your showing calendar before you file.
The mileage rate mistakes that cost agents the most begin with mislabelled trips. Most disputes start with the first leg of the day. A flat line through a known slow season is the entry that invites questions.
