Nobody can give you one price for a small plane, because the answer depends on which one. We pulled the numbers for eleven of the most common families, from two-seat trainers to a turboprop. The median asking price for a used example runs from $52,500 for a Cessna 150 to $2,200,000 for a Cessna 208 Caravan.
Each family has its own guide with the full data. This page puts them side by side: what a new one costs where the maker publishes a price, what sellers ask for used ones, how many are on the register, what the running costs look like and what the NTSB accident files record. Every figure comes from a named public source or a dated sample.
Data used: FAA fleet through 2026-10-12; NTSB file through 2026-09-30; asking-price samples 2026-10-13 and 2026-10-14.
Eleven aircraft families, side by side
| Aircraft | New price | Median used asking price, lowest to highest model group | FAA registrations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cessna 150 | No new price, out of production | $52,500 | 8,241 |
| Cessna 152 | No new price, out of production | $62,000 | 1,687 |
| Piper PA-28 | No current price found. 2019 Archer LX: $389,000 | $70,000 to $200,000 | 18,634 |
| Cessna 172 | $580,000 for the 172S | $99,500 to $414,900 | 21,483 |
| Cessna 182 | $772,000 for the 182T | $137,500 to $459,000 | 13,950 |
| Cirrus SR22 and SR22T | $937,900 for the SR22 | $255,500 to $1,099,500 | 7,069 |
| Beechcraft Bonanza | $1,404,000 for the G36 | $117,500 to $682,000 | 10,374 |
| Beechcraft Baron | $2,155,000 for the G58 | $184,500 to $1,295,000 | 3,065 |
| Diamond DA40 | No current price found. 2007 DA40 XL: $339,695 | $240,000 to $500,000 | 1,018 |
| Diamond DA42 | No current price found. 2017 DA42: $749,800 | $701,000 to $1,016,500 | 264 |
| Cessna 208 Caravan | $2,808,000 for the Caravan, $3,261,000 for the Grand Caravan EX | $2,150,000 to $2,200,000 | 1,024 |
New prices exist only where the maker publishes one. Textron lists the Cessna 172, 182 and 208 and the Beechcraft Bonanza and Baron in its Fact Book, and Cirrus publishes a price list. We found no current Piper or Diamond list price, and the Cessna 150 and 152 are out of production. The used columns are medians of asking prices in one marketplace on one day, grouped by model, and the range runs from the cheapest model group to the dearest. They are asking prices, not sales.
Four price tiers, and what each one buys
The cheapest tier is the old two-seat trainers. A Cessna 150 asks a median of $52,500 and a Cessna 152 $62,000, from samples of only 10 and 7 priced listings, so read them as snapshots. The Piper Cherokee 140 and 160 group sits just above them at $70,000.
Price is not the whole story at this end of the market. The median Cessna 150 in its sample has flown 4,895 airframe hours, and the median Cessna 152 has flown 18,589. Many of these airplanes spent their working lives in flight schools. What a cheap trainer costs you later depends on its airframe and its engine, and an asking price says nothing about either.
The middle tier is the four-seat classics. The older Cessna 172 asks a median of $99,500, the 172N $129,900, and the Cessna 182 family runs from $137,500 for the early models to $459,000 for the 182T. The Piper Arrow III and IV asks $200,000.
The top tier is the modern composite and the newest metal. The Cessna 172S asks a median of $414,900, against a $580,000 list price. The Cirrus SR22 climbs a generation at a time, from $255,500 for listings with no generation stated to $1,099,500 for the newest turbocharged SR22T, which is above its new list price of $1,069,900.
Above four seats the prices step up fast. The Beechcraft Bonanza asks a median of $682,000 for a G36 and $369,000 for an A36, and the twin-engine Baron asks $1,295,000 for a G58 against $464,500 for an older 58. The Diamond DA40 asks $500,000 for the diesel NG, and the twin-diesel DA42 $701,000. The Cessna 208 Caravan asks $2,200,000, from only 14 priced listings, so treat that one as a snapshot.
One note applies to every number here. Sellers set asking prices, and avionics, options, damage history and seller optimism all move them. The samples hold 12, 8, 104, 82, 176, 361, 184, 73, 60, 26 and 35 distinct listings, in the order of the table above, and no individual listing is published.
What it costs to keep one flying
The purchase price is the entry fee. The FAA describes an annual inspection interval of 12 calendar months for ordinary US personal aircraft ownership, and the engine is the cost that arrives all at once. For the Lycoming engines in most of these airplanes the maker publishes overhaul intervals: the IO-360-L2A in the Cessna 172S is listed at 2,600 hours for the first run and 2,000 hours after an overhaul, and the O-235-L2C in the Cessna 152 at 2,400 hours. Those come with conditions, and the Continental engines in the Cessna 150, the older Cessna 182 and the Cirrus have no interval on these pages because the maker's current schedule sits behind a login.
Fuel is the part you feel every hour. Plane and Pilot publishes burn figures for some models and years. These are the ones we could verify, at 75 % power, with the cost at an example $6.00 a gallon. The fuel price is an example chosen to show the arithmetic, not market data.
| Model and year | Fuel burn | Fuel cost per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Cessna 172S, 2009 | 9.7 US gal/hour | $58.20 |
| Piper PA-28-181, 2004 | 10 US gal/hour | $60.00 |
| Cessna TR182, 1979 | 14.2 US gal/hour | $85.20 |
| Cirrus SR22, 2004 | 16.4 US gal/hour | $98.40 |
| Beechcraft A36, 1975 | 15.2 US gal/hour | $91.20 |
| Diamond DA40, 2007 | 10 US gal/hour | $60.00 |
Insurance, hangar or tie-down fees, labour rates, overhaul prices and loan terms depend too much on the owner, the airfield and the airplane for one published number to mean anything, so we print none. Each family guide has a calculator that does the arithmetic with your own quotes, and our ownership section covers the wider costs. Renting is the benchmark your figure has to beat, and the guide to how much it costs to rent a Cessna 172 shows the other side of the ledger.
Who owns each one
The register records an owner category, not how the airplane is used, but the mix still tells a story. Individuals hold 63.8% of the Cessna 150 register, the highest individual share of the eleven. Corporations hold 25.8% of the Cessna 152, a flight-school pattern. LLCs hold 64.5% of the Cirrus SR22 and SR22T register, and the Cessna 172 has 35.6% individual owners. Further up the range, LLCs hold 44.2% of the Beechcraft Baron register and 55.4% of the Diamond DA40 register, while corporations hold 57.7% of the Cessna 208 Caravan register, a working-fleet pattern.
The registers are very different sizes. The Cessna 172 leads with 21,483 registrations, the Piper PA-28 family follows with 18,634, and the Cessna 182 has 13,950. The Cessna 150 has 8,241, the Cirrus SR22 and SR22T 7,069 and the Cessna 152 1,687. The Beechcraft Bonanza has 10,374, the Baron 3,065, the Caravan 1,024, the Diamond DA40 1,018 and the DA42 264. A registration is paperwork, not proof that an airplane is flying.
What the accident files record
The NTSB files record every accident, and the counts below are all this page claims to know about them. They run from 2000 through 2025.
| Aircraft | Accidents counted | Of which fatal | Share fatal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cessna 150 | 975 | 178 | 18.3% |
| Cessna 152 | 584 | 77 | 13.2% |
| Piper PA-28 | 2,118 | 450 | 21.2% |
| Cessna 172 | 3,412 | 503 | 14.7% |
| Cessna 182 | 1,494 | 320 | 21.4% |
| Cirrus SR22 and SR22T | 411 | 141 | 34.3% |
| Beechcraft Bonanza | 1,184 | 407 | 34.4% |
| Beechcraft Baron | 415 | 166 | 40.0% |
| Cessna 208 Caravan | 260 | 94 | 36.2% |
| Diamond DA40 | 68 | 15 | 22.1% |
| Diamond DA42 | 20 | 1 | 5.0% |
The full guide for each airplane
- What a Cessna 150 costs, the old two-seat trainer.
- What a Cessna 152 costs, the flight-school workhorse.
- What a Piper PA-28 Cherokee costs, from Cherokees to Arrows.
- What a Cessna 172 Skyhawk costs, the most common four-seater.
- What a Cessna 182 Skylane costs, the bigger Cessna single.
- What a Cirrus SR22 and SR22T cost, the modern composite.
- What a Beechcraft Bonanza costs, the V-tail and its descendants.
- What a Beechcraft 58 Baron costs, the piston twin.
- What a Cessna 208 Caravan costs, the single-engine turboprop.
- What a Diamond DA40 costs, from gasoline to diesel.
- What a Diamond DA42 costs, the twin diesel.
Looking beyond these eleven? Cirrus also builds a smaller piston single, covered in what a Cirrus SR20 costs and a jet in what a Cirrus Vision Jet costs, with the maker as a whole in what Cirrus aircraft cost. Piper is covered in what Piper aircraft cost. For another piston twin, see the Cessna 310, and for the maker of the Bonanza and Baron, what a Beechcraft costs. We do not print price ranges for other twins, turboprops, jets or ultralights on this page, because we have not sourced them here. To see where all of these sit, the guide to the main types of planes helps.
Questions buyers ask
How much does a small plane cost?
It depends on the airplane. In our samples the median used asking price runs from $52,500 for a Cessna 150 to $2,200,000 for a Cessna 208 Caravan. A new Cessna 172S lists at $580,000.
What is the cheapest small plane to own?
The old two-seat trainers have the lowest asking prices: $52,500 for a Cessna 150 and $62,000 for a Cessna 152. Their airframes have flown many hours, so the cost of ownership depends on condition and engine time, not on the asking price alone.
How much does a new small plane cost?
Textron lists a new Cessna 172S at $580,000 and a new Cessna 182T at $772,000. Cirrus lists a new SR22 at $937,900, and Textron lists a new Beechcraft G36 Bonanza at $1,404,000. Real quotes vary with options and dealer terms.
How many small planes are registered in the US?
For these eleven families the FAA register lists 21,483 Cessna 172 aircraft, 18,634 Piper PA-28 aircraft, 13,950 Cessna 182 aircraft, 8,241 Cessna 150 aircraft, 7,069 Cirrus SR22 and SR22T aircraft, 1,687 Cessna 152 aircraft, 10,374 Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft, 3,065 Baron aircraft, 1,024 Cessna 208 Caravan aircraft, 1,018 Diamond DA40 aircraft and 264 Diamond DA42 aircraft.
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Sources and how the numbers were made
Data through: FAA 2026-10-12; NTSB 2026-09-30; asking samples 2026-10-13 and 2026-10-14. Every figure on this page is copied from the data behind the eleven family guides, where the method for each is explained in full: fleet counts from the FAA registry, specifications from FAA type certificate data sheets, accident counts from the NTSB files, new prices from the makers and used prices from dated samples of advertised prices on one marketplace.
- Federal Aviation Administration. Federal Aviation Administration.
- Federal Aviation Administration. Pilot Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. Glossary.
- Lycoming Engines. Service Instruction No. 1009BF. Time Between Overhaul (TBO) Schedules.
- Textron Inc.. Textron Fact Book 2025.
- Cirrus Design Corporation. 2026 SR Series SR22 North America Price List.
- Cirrus Design Corporation. 2026 SR Series SR22T North America Price List.
- Piper Aircraft. 2019 Archer LX Specification and Price Guide.
- National Transportation Safety Board. National Transportation Safety Board.
- National Transportation Safety Board. National Transportation Safety Board.
- Federal Aviation Administration. Federal Aviation Administration.
- Controller.com. Controller.com.
- Plane and Pilot. 2004 New Piper Archer III N184CF.
- Plane and Pilot. 2009 CESSNA SKYHAWK 172S.
- Plane and Pilot. Cessna 1979 182 Turbo Skylane RG.
- Plane and Pilot. 2004 Cirrus SR22-G2.
- Plane and Pilot. 1975 A36 Bonanza.
- Plane and Pilot. 2007 Diamond Star DA40 XL.
- Plane and Pilot. Diamond DA40 XL: Polishing The Diamond Star.
- Plane and Pilot. 2017 Diamond DA42.