Trucking cost per mile calculator
Your truck's real cost per mile, what drives it, and the rate per loaded mile you need to break even. Starting values are an EXAMPLE; replace them with yours.
Your cost per mile
$1.82
$16,369 a month over 9,000 miles
- Fixed costs
- $0.52/mi
- Fuel
- $0.98/mi
- Repairs, tires, tolls
- $0.32/mi
- Driver pay
- $0.00/mi
Break-even rate per loaded mile, with 12% empty miles:
$2.07
Before driver pay you're $0.51 above the industry's $1.31/mi (ATRI 2025, excluding driver wages and benefits).
Every load under $2.07 a loaded mile loses money on these numbers. If you have your own authority, our dispatchers price loads against your cost per mile, at 5% of gross.
How it's calculated
cost per mile = (monthly fixed costs ÷ total miles) + (diesel ÷ mpg) + repairs + tires + tolls + driver pay
break-even per loaded mile = cost per mile ÷ (1 − empty share)
Fixed costs don't care how far you drive, so more miles spread them thinner. That's why a slow month raises your cost per mile even if you spend less on fuel. Per-mile costs rise and fall with the miles.
The starting values use sourced figures where one exists: diesel at the latest weekly EIA average, and repairs and tires at ATRI's 2025 industry averages. Payments, insurance and miles are EXAMPLE values.
Source: U.S. EIA, U.S. average on-highway diesel price, week of Sept 28, 2026 · checked Oct 2026
Source: ATRI, Operational Costs of Trucking 2026 (2025 data), via Heavy Duty Trucking, July 15, 2026 · checked Oct 2026
Source: ATRI, An Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking, 2026 update (2025 data) · checked Oct 2026
EXAMPLE scorecard: one dry van, 9,000 miles
- Fixed ($4,700 ÷ 9,000 mi)
- $0.52
- Fuel ($6.38 ÷ 6.5 mpg)
- $0.98
- Repairs, tires, tolls
- $0.32
- Cost per mile
- $1.82
- Break-even, 12% empty
- $2.07
Before the owner-operator's own pay. Compare it with the June 2026 DAT dry van spot average of $3.00/mi including fuel surcharge.
Source: DAT Freight & Analytics, national averages for June 2026 (released July 9, 2026) · checked Oct 2026
What a good or bad result means
Good: the loads you take pay comfortably above your break-even per loaded mile, with enough left over for your pay, taxes and a repair fund.
Bad: you're regularly booking near or under break-even. Look at the biggest bar first: fixed costs mean you need more miles or a cheaper truck deal; fuel means mpg, idling and route choices; a high empty share means you need better reloads.
Truck cost per mile is also the number behind every rate decision. Compare it with what drivers earn per mile in how much truck drivers make per mile and truck driver pay.
Related calculators
- Box truck cost per mile calculator
- Rate per mile calculator
- Dispatch ROI calculator
Running your own authority? Owner-operator dispatch books loads against your break-even, and every load is offered to you first.
Truck cost per mile questions
What is a good cost per mile for a truck?
There's no single good number; what matters is that your rates beat yours. For context, ATRI's 2025 industry average was $2.336 per mile including driver pay, or about $1.31 without driver wages and benefits. A one-truck operator with a paid-off truck can be well under that; one with a new truck payment and high fuel can be over.
How do you calculate truck cost per mile?
Add up a month of fixed costs (truck and trailer payments, insurance, permits, phone and ELD) and divide by the miles you drove that month, loaded and empty. Then add your per-mile costs: fuel (diesel price divided by mpg), repairs, tires, tolls and any driver pay. The sum is your cost per mile.
Should I count deadhead miles?
Yes, in the cost per mile, because empty miles burn fuel and wear the truck. But you're only paid on loaded miles, so divide your cost per mile by your loaded share to get the break-even rate. With 12% empty miles, a $2.00 cost per mile needs about $2.27 per loaded mile just to break even.
Is this different for a box truck?
The method is the same, but the numbers differ: lower fuel use, lower payments and insurance, and fewer miles. Use the box truck cost per mile calculator for defaults that fit a straight truck.
Where does my pay come in?
If you're an owner-operator, leave driver pay at zero and treat what's left after costs as your pay. If you employ a driver, enter their per-mile pay so the result covers it.
Know your break-even? Let us book above it.
Dispatch for owner-operators with their own authority: 5% of gross, 7% while your MC is under 6 months. You approve every load.
- Gross booked
- $5,600
- Dispatch fee 5%
- −$280
- You keep (before costs)
- $5,320
Fee is charged only on loads you haul. No haul, no fee.