How much does it cost to operate an aircraft carrier per day?

The Nimitz-class carriers cost was initially around $675 million; that figure has grown to between $4.5 and $6.2 billion to produce. This is due in large part to upgraded multirole systems, hull redesign to improve efficiency, and their role redesignation from strictly attack to ASW and other threat prosecution operations/defense. While the newer carriers may initially cost more to produce, their long-term operational costs are expected to be lower than previous ships of the class.

The newest Ford-class carriers are expected to cost around $9 billion each (in 2010 dollars). However, given the history of new-construction programs, that figure is likely to be much higher. There is also a possibility given the current budget situation that DoD will revisit the construction plans due to its overall cost, and opt to continue to build the cheaper Nimitz-class vessels

The Reagan cost $5 billion.
All ten Nimitz-class aircraft carriers were constructed between 1968 and 2006.

The total cost of construction for each ship was around $4.5 billion.