Typical car
30 mpg, 14-gallon tank: about 420 miles on a full tank.
| Stop | Station | From start | Tank on arrival |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PilotMarion, IL | 316 mi | 25% |
Arrive in Memphis with about 48% of the tank.
Gas stops from Chicago to Memphis and back
Chicago, IL → Memphis, TN and back · station data as of November 11, 2026
- Distance
- 532 mi (856 km)each way
- Driving time
- 7 h 42 minrouting estimate, no stops
- Stops for a typical car
- 1 each way
- Longest stretch without a station
- 27 miUllin, IL to Charleston, MO
- Stations within 2 mi of the route
- 507
Chicago to Memphis is 532 miles, about 7½ hours of driving by the routing estimate. A typical car that leaves full needs one fuel stop: Marion, IL (316 miles in). A truck towing a trailer, at about 253 miles a tank, needs two: Effingham, IL (207 miles in) and Charleston, MO (379 miles in).
The longest stretch without a station within 2 miles of the road is 27 miles, from Ullin, IL to Charleston, MO. I-57 carries most of the route.
Plan this trip with your carOpens Fillerup with Chicago to Memphis filled in and planned for a typical car. Change the car, the reserve or the stops there.
The route and the stops: Chicago to Memphis
Chicago
Memphis
27 mi without a station
100 mi
- Chicago and Memphis
- Stop, typical car
- Stop, truck towing a trailer
- No station within 2 mi (stretches of 21 mi or more)
Truck towing a trailer
11 mpg, 23-gallon tank: about 253 miles on a full tank.
| Stop | Station | From start | Tank on arrival |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QuikTripEffingham, IL | 207 mi | 18% |
| 2 | Love'sCharleston, MO | 379 mi | 32% |
Arrive in Memphis with about 39% of the tank.
Both plans leave Chicago with a full tank, keep 15% in reserve, fill up completely at each stop and prefer stations in or near towns, as Fillerup does by default. Stops are chosen from stations within 2 miles of the route.
Driving back: Memphis to Chicago
The drive back from Memphis to Chicago is 532 miles too, and its longest stretch without a station within 2 miles is the same 27 miles, between Charleston, MO and Ullin, IL. The stops fall in other places, because the plan starts with a full tank in Memphis:
Typical car
| Stop | Station | From start | Tank on arrival |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phillips 66Effingham, IL | 323 mi | 23% |
Arrive in Chicago with about 50% of the tank.
Truck towing a trailer
| Stop | Station | From start | Tank on arrival |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Road Ranger8 miles before Marion, IL | 207 mi | 18% |
| 2 | ShellChampaign, IL | 400 mi | 23% |
Arrive in Chicago with about 47% of the tank.
Stretches without a station
27 mi without a station
| Length | From | To | Road |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 mi | Ullin, IL352 mi from start | Charleston, MO379 mi from start | I-57 |
| 22 mi | Marston, MO417 mi from start | Hayti, MO439 mi from start | I-55 |
No stretch goes 45 miles or more without a station within 2 miles. A station missing from OpenStreetMap would make a stretch look longer than it is, and a mapped station may have closed, so treat these as a guide.
Stations along the way
OpenStreetMap lists 507 stations within 2 miles of this route. 286 of them are in the Chicago and Memphis areas; of the 221 in between, the most are in Champaign, IL (22), Blytheville, AR (19) and Effingham, IL (17).
399 of them have a brand in the data; the most common are BP (59), Shell (52) and Citgo (48).
16 are tagged as open 24/7. Stations without that tag may still be open around the clock: the data can't tell.
| Town | Stations | From start |
|---|---|---|
| Champaign, IL | 22 | 133 mi |
| Blytheville, AR | 19 | 463 mi |
| Effingham, IL | 17 | 209 mi |
| Mount Vernon, IL | 14 | 276 mi |
| Marion, IL | 13 | 316 mi |
| Hayti, MO | 12 | 439 mi |
How this page was made
- Route: from the centre of Chicago to the centre of Memphis and back, each direction routed on its own, by Geoapify routing (fetched November 12, 2026). Fillerup asks for the route again when you open the trip, so its numbers can differ a little.
- Stations: every usable fuel station in OpenStreetMap within 2 miles of the route (private, disused and truck-only ones left out), from Fillerup’s station data as of November 11, 2026.
- Stops: Fillerup’s own planner, with the two vehicles above, each way from a full tank. Its picks favour stations in towns over isolated pumps, so a stop can come earlier than the tank strictly needs.
- The Chicago and Memphis areas: within 47 miles of Chicago and 36 miles of Memphis, the distance within which Fillerup’s route selection counts a city as part of the metro (it grows with the metro’s population), leaving out places nearer another metro’s centre or across a border.
- Not covered: fuel prices, opening hours beyond the 24/7 tag, road conditions, closures and detours.