Trucking cost per mile calculator

How the calculator works

Cost per mile has two parts.

Fixed costs don't change with miles: truck and trailer payments, insurance, plates and permits, ELD and software, and other overhead like parking or accounting. The calculator adds them up for the month and divides by the miles you run, so the more you drive, the smaller this part gets.

Per-mile costs grow with every mile: fuel (diesel price divided by your fuel economy), maintenance, tires and driver pay. These stay about the same per mile no matter how much you run.

Add the two and you have your cost per mile. The chart under the result shows how big each part is, which tells you where savings would matter most.

The break-even rate takes one more step. A dispatch fee is a percentage of revenue, so to cover a cost of $1.72 a mile with a 5% fee you need $1.72 divided by 0.95, or about $1.81 a mile. The calculator does that for whatever fee you enter.

The default diesel price is the U.S. on-highway average for the last week of September 2026; change it to what you pay.

Source:EIA, U.S. on-highway diesel fuel price, week of Sep 28, 2026: $6.382/gal · checked 2026-10

Worked example

Example

Fixed per month

$5,500

Fixed per mile

$0.55

Fuel per mile

$0.98

Cost per mile

$1.72

Monthly cost

$17,215

Break-even after 5%

$1.81

In this example the owner drives and takes what's left, so driver pay is zero and everything earned above $1.81 a mile is the owner's pay before tax. Drop the miles to 8,000 and the cost per mile rises to about $1.86, because the same fixed costs are spread over fewer miles. Raise the fuel economy by half a mile per gallon and the cost falls by several cents. Those two levers, miles and fuel, move the number more than almost anything else.

What your result means

Compare your break-even rate with what your loads really pay across all your miles. Our rate per mile calculator shows the all-in rate for any load, including deadhead. If loads regularly pay less than your break-even rate, you have three choices: raise rates, cut costs, or run more productive miles, for example with OTR loops that string loads together instead of leaving the truck empty between them.

The breakdown helps choose. If fixed costs are the biggest slice, more miles help most. If fuel is the biggest slice, fuel economy and route planning matter most; the trip fuel cost calculator prices a single run. For open-deck carriers, our guide to flatbed rate per mile shows how rates compare with typical costs, and flatbed truck driver salary helps set a fair per-mile wage if you hire.

How equipment changes the picture

The same method works for every rig, but the slices change size.

• Reefers burn extra fuel to run the refrigeration unit, often from a separate tank, and carry unit maintenance on top of the tractor's. Add both to your per-mile costs.
• Flatbeds, step decks and lowboys carry securement gear that wears out: straps, chains, binders and tarps. Spread their replacement cost over the miles you expect them to last.
• Hotshots and 26 ft box trucks usually have lower payments and better fuel economy, but they also earn less per load, so their cost per mile has to be compared with their own rates, not a semi's.
• Tankers and hazmat add endorsements, extra insurance and cleaning costs.

Whatever you run, the habit is the same: one honest month of real numbers, recalculated whenever something big changes.

Costs people forget

• Tolls and scales, which add up on some lanes.
• Repairs beyond routine maintenance. Set aside money every month, even in a good month.
• Downtime. A week in the shop still has a truck payment.
• Your own health insurance and retirement if you're self-employed.

Add them to "Other fixed" and your cost per mile will be closer to the truth. When you know your number, a dispatcher can use it as your floor; see dispatch pricing for what our fee adds.