Trucking cost per mile calculator

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How it is calculated

1. Fixed cost per mile = fixed costs per month / miles per month.
2. Variable cost per mile = variable costs per month / miles per month.
3. Cost per mile = fixed + variable + driver pay per mile.

Use real numbers from your bank statements and fuel cards, not estimates. If you drive yourself and take what's left as profit, set driver pay to zero, but remember that your profit is your wage.

SOURCE: Benchmark: ATRI, An Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking, 2025 data (published 2026): $2.336 per mile average, including driver wages.

Worked example

COST PER MILENO. 0054

EXAMPLE

Fixed $5,000 / 9,000 mi

$0.56

Variable $6,500 / 9,000 mi

$0.72

Driver pay

$0.00

Cost per mile$1.28

This owner-operator needs $1.28 on every mile, loaded or empty, before taking a cent home. Drop the miles to 7,000 a month and the same costs come to about $1.64. Fixed costs get heavier every time the truck sits.

Truck cost per mile by equipment

Costs differ a lot by rig. A pickup hotshot burns less fuel and pays less for insurance than a tractor, but runs fewer miles per tire and carries less. A reefer adds unit fuel and service. Flatbeds add tarps and straps. Oversize adds permits and escorts. A 26 ft box truck usually sits between a hotshot and a tractor. Compare yourself with the hotshot vs semi cost per mile guide.

Good and bad results

Your cost per mile is a floor, not a target. A load that pays exactly your cost earns nothing. Add the profit you need and that's your minimum all-in rate.

• Fixed cost per mile high? Look at miles first. More loaded miles spread the payment and insurance thinner.
• Variable cost per mile high? Check fuel economy, idle time and deadhead. Empty miles burn fuel and pay nothing.
• Higher than the rates in your lanes? Look at lanes, equipment and costs before you take more loads at a loss.

Use your floor every week

Write your floor where you see it when you book. Then split your costs into three buckets you can track monthly: what you owe no matter what (payment, insurance), what moves with miles (fuel, tires, repairs), and what you pay yourself. When one bucket jumps, you'll see it in the next month's number instead of at tax time. Set aside a repair reserve too, a few cents a mile, so a big bill doesn't come out of a single week's settlement. Check every offer against it with the rate per mile calculator, using all-in miles.

Your floor, our minimum

Tell us your cost per mile and your minimum rate. We counter every load and don't bring you anything under your floor unless you ask us to. You approve every load, and the broker sends the rate confirmation straight to you. See rates and fees.