How Much It Costs To Be Lorelai From Gilmore Girls For A Day
Each cup of coffee counts.
Fall is for pumpkin spice lattes, cozy cardigans, and returning to Stars Hollow for your annual Gilmore Girls rewatch. There’s just something about autumn that makes you want to Netflix and chill with your fave characters as they drink coffee at Luke’s Diner, spend time at the Dragonfly Inn, and even auction off picnic baskets filled with “two stale Pop-Tarts and a Slim Jim.”
Of all the people in Stars Hollow, Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) seemed to live the quintessential small-town life. Sure, she had her fair share of relationship drama between Luke, Christopher, and even Max Medina, and Friday night dinners with her parents and Rory were often contentious and stressful. Despite all that, Lorelai had a dream job working with her best friend, Sookie, by her side, and a hometown with lovable neighbors and something exciting happening almost every day.
Living like Lorelai for a day IRL would be a dream come true for many Gilmore Girls fans, but it would also come with a price. Despite getting help from Emily and Richard for Rory’s private school education, Lorelai still had to pay for her two-story house in Connecticut, cool-girl wardrobe, and eating habits. (Like, imagine going to Luke’s and ordering delivery almost every single day — that would definitely add up.)
Below, you’ll find a detailed breakdown of how much it would actually cost to be Lorelai Gilmore for one day.
The Long-Term Expenses: Lorelai Really Lucked Out With Her Parents
Amy Sherman-Palladino got the idea for Gilmore Girls after spending time in Washington Depot, Connecticut. While Stars Hollow is a fictional town, it’s easy to see how real-life places like Washington Depot (and New Milford, Connecticut) inspired where Lorelai and Rory Gilmore resided on the show.
Since Lorelai’s actual home was just a set on the Warner Bros. backlot, it’s hard to determine how much it’d cost to upkeep. However, a two-story colonial-style home in Washington Depot with the same vibes as Lorelai’s place is currently listed for $695,000 on Zillow with an estimated mortgage of $4,685 a month. If you divide that monthly cost per day, that’s roughly $156.
The Dragonfly Inn was another long-term and pricey investment for Lorelai. However, during the 2016 sequel miniseries A Year in the Life, the business was still running and making a profit for both Lorelai and Sookie.
One fan on Reddit calculated that if they charged around $150 per room, that’d be about $126,000 a year for the two owners to split after paying taxes and their employees like Michel. Rooms at the Mayflower Inn & Spa, where Sherman-Palladino stayed in Connecticut while coming up with the idea for Gilmore Girls, start around $600 a night. If the Dragonfly Inn charged the same, the total income would be $504,000, making Lorelai’s salary for the year closer to $252,000.
Unless there were some major renovations needed, daily costs for the Dragonfly Inn wouldn’t need to be accounted for if it was in the black. Since Richard and Emily took care of both Chilton and Yale, Rory’s schooling was another long-term expense that Lorelai didn’t have to worry about. She even paid back her parents right away with the $75,000 check she got from her dad.
The only other big-ticket item to consider would be Lorelai’s Jeep Wrangler. The cheapest full-coverage insurance in Connecticut is about $121 a month, or roughly $4 a day.
Total: $160
Lorelai’s Morning Consisted Of Coffee, Coffee, Coffee
5:45 a.m.: The Gilmores’ morning routine has always been somewhat of a mystery for fans, because it seems like each day, Lorelai and Rory had enough time to get up, get dressed, walk to Luke’s Diner, have breakfast, maybe even run into Kirk or Taylor for a chat, and then go to work and school, respectively.
In order to get everything done, Lorelai and Rory must’ve woken up super early each day. This feels counterintuitive to their laid-back personas, but, hey, you do what you have to do to get the famous coffee at Luke’s Diner.
With this in mind, Lorelai likely woke up around 5:45 a.m. This is the time she set her alarm in Season 1, Episode 2 in order to leave for Rory’s first day of Chilton by 7:15 a.m. Furry alarm clock fail aside, Lorelai would get up on time and shower.
In Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Rory was spotted using Not Your Mother's hair care products, so it’s not far off to assume Lorelai would use the same — like mother, like daughter. Since Lorelai has curly locks, she’d opt for the Curl Talk Gentle Shampoo ($9) and 3-In-1 Conditioner ($9). Graham also recently revealed she uses 14th Night’s Hair Elixir oil ($68) to maintain her shiny locks, so that’d go into Lorelai’s hair care routine as well.
6 a.m.: A typical workday ‘fit for Lorelai consisted of either a slip dress and blazer or a floral blouse and skirt combo. She kept it classy but maintained her signature Lorelai quirk with fun colors and patterns, so this BCBG Max Azria floral skirt ($238) paired with this Anthropologie sweater ($98) is exactly like something she would wear in Season 2. If it were winter, Lorelai would throw on her iconic red corduroy sherpa jacket ($128) and a pair of boots — preferably Jimmy Choos ($2,295).
6:15 a.m.: For Lorelai’s beauty routine, Gilmore Girls makeup artist Tegan Taylor dished on the exact products she used to Eliza in 2023. To start off, Taylor said she created a base with Giorgio Armani’s Luminous Silk Foundation ($69) for both Lorelai and Rory and mixed together Clé de Peau’s concealer stick ($75) with Clinique’s All About Eyes cream ($42) for under the eyes.
On the cheeks, Taylor used both MAC’s Warm Soul ($33) and Blushbaby ($21) blushes for color and contour. Lorelai’s natural eye look was a combo of MAC’s eyeshadows in shades Cork, Brun, and Woodwinked ($75) with Make Up For Ever’s Star Lit Diamond Powder ($26) for a bit of shine, and Maybelline’s mascara ($5).
In the early 2000s, thin eyebrows were trendy, but Taylor said she still used Anastasia Beverly Hills’ Brow Powder ($23) to define Lorelai’s look. To finish off, the young mom always had a gorgeous red lip, which Taylor said was often MAC’s Viva Glam lipstick ($25). Unfortunately, the shade Vicious Trollop doesn’t exist IRL, so Viva Heart would have to do instead.
Of course, these one-time fashion and makeup purchases aren’t expenses you’d need to budget for every single day, but still worth considering.
6:30 p.m.: Dressed and ready to go, Lorelai and Rory would head over to Luke’s Diner for breakfast.
6:45 p.m.: After running into a few Stars Hollow regulars like Miss Patty and Babette, Lorelai and Rory would sit at their regular table at Luke’s where he would already have coffee waiting for them. Marty’s Cafe in Washington Depot is a similar spot to Luke’s, and a tall hot coffee on its menu is $3.
In Season 2, Lorelai ordered Luke’s Special Omelette ($5) minus the tomato and oregano, subbed out the Swiss cheese for jack cheese, and had the bacon on the side. Lorelai would also pay for Rory’s breakfast, which was just French toast ($6) and coffee ($3).
7:15 a.m.: After breakfast, Rory would catch the bus to Hartford to get to Chilton while Lorelai would walk ($0!) to the Dragonfly Inn for work.
Total: $3,256
Lorelai’s Work Day At The Dragonfly Inn
7:30 a.m.: Lorelai wouldn’t spend a ton of her own money while working until lunchtime.
12 p.m.: Lorelai’s bestie, Sookie, would keep her well-fed with something she cooked up in the Dragonfly Inn kitchen. While she technically didn’t pay for lunch, it was still an expense that came out of the inn’s budget.
The Mayflower Inn & Spa has a Garden Room restaurant serving dishes similar to Sookie’s. A burger and fries on the lunch menu is about $32.
3 p.m.: In Season 2, Lorelai attended Hartford Community College to get her associate of arts in business. Since Hartford was about an hour away from Stars Hollow, she would need to leave work a little early on the days she had class to drive over to campus. First, she’d get a full tank of gas for her Jeep (~$60).
4 p.m.: Tuition for an out-of-county student like Lorelai at Hartford Community College is around $25,064, but that includes housing and food. Lorelai wouldn’t need to spend money on that since she commuted from Stars Hollow, so her tuition would be closer to $14,798. Dividing that by the number of school days in Connecticut (roughly 180), Lorelai would spend about $82 a day on her college courses.
She might not have had food included in her tuition, but Lorelai would drop about $2 on a vending machine Pop-Tart and $3 on a coffee to keep her fueled for class.
Total: $179
Lorelai’s Friday Night Plans Included Dinner With Emily & Richard
6:30 p.m.: If it happened to be a Friday night, Lorelai would head straight to her parents’ house after class for mandatory dinner. Even though Lorelai wouldn’t spend any money on her decadent meal, she’d still have to deal with Emily and Richard (which she would argue was much worse).
8 p.m.: After dinner, Lorelai and Rory — who would arrive at the Gilmores’ after school at Chilton — would travel back to Stars Hollow together.
9 p.m.: Depending on the season, there might’ve been a festival in town like the Firelight Festival or Winter Carnival that Rory and Lorelai would want to attend. Rory would likely go off to spend time with Lane, Dean, or Jess, while Lorelai always ended up at Luke’s Diner to vent and have one of their signature flirty conversations. Even though it’d be late at night, Lorelai would have another one of Luke’s infamous cups of coffee ($3). After all, Lorelai said she needs “coffee in an IV.”
10:30 p.m.: At the end of an eventful day, Lorelai would start on her nighttime routine. According to Eat This, Not That, Graham uses Tracie Martyn’s Amla Purifying Cleanser ($68) in her skin care routine, so Lorelai would use something similar to wash off all the makeup and dirt from her day. Graham also revealed to The Strategist that Homeoplasmine cream ($27) is a must-have in her bag. She likes to use it “as a face mask, as a lip balm, [and] for flyaways,” so this would go into Lorelai’s routine as well.
11 p.m.: Then, Lorelai would throw on some comfy pajamas like the Paul Frank set ($36) she wore in Season 1 before setting her alarm and heading to bed.
Total: $134
TL;DR: Lorelai’s Iconic Style Is The Most Expensive Thing About Her
Lorelai worked hard to build a life in Stars Hollow by herself as a single mother. Even though she needed help for Chilton, getting the Dragonfly Inn started, and other expenses like when her house had termites in Season 2, money was never a serious issue for long because she always had her parents or even Luke there to help.
She also didn’t spend that much money on things other than her trendy wardrobe. Sure, she ate out a lot, which can add up, but most likely Luke wasn’t charging her for every cup of coffee. In fact, she probably didn’t have to pay as soon as she started dating him, which cut her budget down a lot.
This total is also the maximum Lorelai would need to spend in a day if she didn’t already have all her makeup and skin care products at home, as well as her wardrobe. Without all that, her total goes down to about $359 a day. Now *that’s* budget-friendly.
Ultimately, Lorelai was truly living the dream life in Stars Hollow, and wherever she leads, fans will be following.
Total: $3,729
