Trucking cost per mile calculator: know your break-even
Enter your monthly costs and miles. The trucking cost per mile calculator splits fixed from variable, shows where every cent goes and returns the rate per loaded mile you have to beat.
Defaults are an example truck, not an average. The diesel default is the EIA U.S. average for the week of Oct 5, 2026. Use your own numbers.
COST PER MILE
$2.28
$0.42 fixed + $1.86 variable
BREAK-EVEN RATE
$2.73
per loaded mile, after a 5% fee
- Truck and trailer payments22.0¢
- Insurance12.0¢
- Plates, permits, IFTA, UCR2.5¢
- ELD, load boards, phone2.5¢
- Parking1.5¢
- Other fixed2.0¢
- Fuel95.4¢
- Maintenance reserve20.0¢
- Tires4.0¢
- Tolls1.5¢
- Driver pay65.0¢
- Costs a month
- $22,837
- Loaded miles a month
- 8,800
- Break-even before fees
- $2.60 / loaded mi
Every loaded mile has to pay at least $2.73 before you make a dollar. Anything you accept below that loses money.
POSTED: EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update, on-highway diesel, week of Oct 5, 2026 · checked Oct 2026
Your break-even is $2.73 a loaded mile. Our dispatchers negotiate against your number, not the board average. Dispatch runs 5% of gross for one truck, and you confirm every load.
By Nathan Beck · Updated October 2026
Your truck cost per mile is the most useful number in your business and the one most drivers guess at. Without it, every rate looks either good or bad by feel. With it, you know in seconds whether a load pays. This trucking cost per mile calculator takes a normal month of costs, splits them into fixed and variable, and turns them into a break-even rate per loaded mile.
Fixed costs and variable costs
Fixed costs arrive whether the truck moves or not: truck and trailer payments, insurance, plates and permits, your ELD and load board subscriptions, parking. Spread over more miles, each mile carries less of them, which is why a slow month hurts so much.
Variable costs rise with every mile: fuel, maintenance, tires, tolls and driver pay. Fuel is usually the largest. At the EIA's U.S. average of $6.199 a gallon for the week of October 5, 2026, a truck getting 6.5 mpg burns about 95 cents of diesel every mile. Regional prices differ by more than two dollars a gallon, so use what you actually pay.
POSTED: EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update (week of Oct 5, 2026) · checked Oct 2026
How it is calculated
- Fixed per month: the six fixed lines added up.
- Variable per month: fuel (price divided by MPG, times miles), maintenance and tire reserves per mile times miles, tolls, and driver pay per mile times miles.
- Cost per mile: the monthly total divided by all miles, loaded and empty.
- Break-even per loaded mile: the monthly total divided by loaded miles only.
- After a fee: if you pay a percentage of gross for dispatch or factoring, the break-even is divided by one minus that percentage, so the rate still covers costs after the fee comes out.
What a good result and a bad result look like
A good result is a break-even comfortably under the rates you book on your normal lanes, with a maintenance reserve you actually set aside. A bad result is a break-even that sits on top of market rates, or a cost per mile that only works with no deadhead.
Look at the bar first. If fixed costs are a big slice, more miles help most, so cutting idle days matters more than chasing a few cents of rate. If fuel dominates, MPG, idling and where you fuel make the difference. Parking is a small slice for most trucks, but it adds up; the truck parking cost calculator shows yours, and what truck parking costs explains the paid options. Route choice moves both fuel and tolls, which is where good truck route planning software pays for itself.
Turn the number into rates
Once you know your break-even, use it on every load. The rate per mile calculator shows what a load really pays per mile once you count deadhead to the pickup. Compare that against this break-even and you have a yes or no in seconds.
Booking above that line is the whole job of a dispatcher. Ours ask for your number up front, negotiate against it rather than the board average, and send you each load to approve, with the rate con straight to your inbox. If a load does not clear your break-even, you say no. See how it works for owner operators, or send us your application.
Questions about this calculator
How do I calculate my truck cost per mile?
Add up a normal month of costs, both fixed (payments, insurance, permits, software) and variable (fuel, maintenance, tires, tolls, driver pay). Divide the total by every mile you drove that month, loaded and empty. That is your cost per mile. Use three months of real numbers if you have them, because one month can be skewed by a big repair or a slow week.
What is a good cost per mile for an owner operator?
There is no single good number, because it depends on your truck payment, fuel, lanes and what you pay yourself. What matters is the gap between your cost and the rates you book. If your break-even is close to the rates you see on your lanes, you are one slow week from losing money. Lower costs or better freight both widen that gap.
Should driver pay be in cost per mile?
Yes, even if you are the driver. If you leave your own pay out, a load that only covers the truck looks profitable while you work for free. Put in what you would pay a driver, or what you need to take home, per mile. Then any rate above your break-even is real profit for the business.
Why is my break-even per loaded mile higher than my cost per mile?
Because empty miles cost money but earn nothing. Cost per mile spreads costs over every mile you drive. Brokers pay you per loaded mile, so the loaded miles have to carry the empty ones too. At 12% deadhead, your loaded miles carry about 14% more cost each. A percentage fee on gross raises the number again.
Loads booked above your break-even, not below it
Tell us your number. You approve every load, and the rate con comes to you.