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Trucking Cost Per Mile Calculator
A trucking cost per mile calculator has two jobs: what the truck costs for every mile it runs, and what it must earn per loaded mile to break even once deadhead and factoring are counted. Enter fixed costs at whatever interval you pay them, plus fuel, driver pay and running costs, and the result sits beside ATRI's 2025 industry average of $2.336 per mile.
- Break-even rate per loaded mile
- Deadhead and factoring built in
- Compared with ATRI's industry average
Trucking cost per mile calculator
Fixed and running costs in, cost per mile and break-even rate out. Updates as you type.
Your cost per mile is not your break-even rate
Costs run on every mile the truck turns. Pay arrives on the loaded ones. Divide a month's costs by all the miles and you get cost per mile, a fine number for a budget and the wrong one to quote, because the empty miles still have to be paid for out of the full ones.
Follow one illustrative month (example inputs, not typical figures). The truck runs 10,000 miles, 1,200 of them deadhead, so 8,800 earn money. Its costs total $23,436.92, or $2.344 a mile. Three divisions take that to the rate it needs:
| Step | Per mile | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Costs ÷ all 10,000 miles | $2.344 | Cost per mile |
| Costs ÷ 8,800 loaded miles | $2.663 | Deadhead earns nothing |
| ÷ 0.97 for a 3% factoring fee | $2.746 | The factor keeps 3¢ of each dollar |
Rounded to the cent, that $2.746 is the $2.75 in the calculator's Break-even, per loaded mile tile. Quote every load at $2.34 because it "covers cost per mile" and the month comes up $3,462.68 short: $20,592 billed, $19,974.24 collected after factoring, against $23,436.92 of costs.
Leave deadhead out and the same factored truck seems to break even at $2.42, so the 1,200 empty miles add about 33¢ to every loaded one. A cost per mile calculator that never asks about deadhead can't show you that. This one runs total cost for the period ÷ (loaded miles × (1 − factoring fee)).
Fixed and variable costs: what goes where
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) sorts costs by whether the truck is moving. Fixed costs are what you pay with it parked, led by the truck payment and insurance, with licenses, permits and accounting alongside. Variable costs come with running it: fuel, tires, maintenance, and meals and lodging on the road.
In the calculator, each Fixed costs line has a Cost name, an Amount ($) and an Every setting of Week, Month or Year, so insurance goes in as the monthly bill and permits as the yearly one, and each is converted to your period. Five lines start named, with blank amounts: Truck payment; Trailer payment; Insurance; Permits, plates and IFTA/IRP; and ELD, phone and software. The + Add a cost button takes the list to 30 lines.
Running costs are per mile: Diesel price and Truck MPG (fuel per mile is one divided by the other), Maintenance and repairs, Tires, Driver pay and Other costs, plus Tolls as a total for the period and the Factoring fee as a percentage. Meals and lodging fit under Other costs if you track them per mile.
Put driver pay in even when the driver is you. Without it the cost per mile looks lower than it is, and the break-even it produces pays for the truck but not for the person driving it.
How to calculate cost per mile, line by line
Here is the illustrative month in full. None of these amounts is a benchmark; replace every one with your own.
| Cost | Entered as | Per mile |
|---|---|---|
| Truck payment | $2,400 a month | $0.240 |
| Trailer payment | $800 a month | $0.080 |
| Insurance | $1,400 a month | $0.140 |
| Permits, plates and IFTA/IRP | $3,600 a year | $0.030 |
| ELD, phone and software | $150 a month | $0.015 |
| Fixed | $5,050 a month | $0.505 |
| Fuel | $6.199 a gallon at 6.5 MPG | $0.954 |
| Driver pay | $0.65 a mile | $0.650 |
| Maintenance and repairs | $0.18 a mile | $0.180 |
| Tires | $0.04 a mile | $0.040 |
| Tolls | $150 a month | $0.015 |
| Variable | $1.839 | |
| Cost per mile | $23,436.92 for the month | $2.344 |
Fixed costs come to $5,050 for the month, and $5,050 ÷ 10,000 miles is $0.505. Fuel is $6.199 ÷ 6.5 MPG, or $0.954, using the EIA's U.S. average diesel price for the week of October 5, 2026. Tolls are $150 ÷ 10,000, which is 1.5¢; the other running costs are already per mile. Variable costs add up to $1.839, and fixed plus variable is $2.344.
Under the results, a bar chart ranks every line by cost per mile with its share of the total. Here fuel is 41% and driver pay 28%, so two lines make up more than two-thirds of the cost, with the truck payment next at 10%. That's the order to look in when you want the number down.
Why a slow month costs more per mile
Fixed costs arrive in full whatever the odometer says. Run the same truck 8,000 miles in a month instead of 10,000, with deadhead still 12% (960 miles), and the $5,050 is spread thinner:
| Per month | 10,000 miles | 8,000 miles |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed per mile | $0.505 | $0.631 |
| Cost per mile | $2.344 | $2.474 |
| Break-even per loaded mile | $2.75 | $2.90 |
| Result at $2.75 per loaded mile | +$37.08 | −$1,010.34 |
Nothing on the bills changed. A rate that broke even at 10,000 miles loses $1,010.34 at 8,000. Budget on the miles the truck runs in a slow month as well as a good one, and check both.
Counting by the year instead of the month changes nothing: 120,000 miles, a year of tolls and the same bills give the same cost per mile. Pick the period that matches your records.
Using it as a rate per mile calculator
Break-even is the floor. The Rates section adds two more numbers. Target profit margin (%) gives the rate per loaded mile at which that share of what you collect after factoring is left once costs are paid. For 15%: $23,436.92 ÷ (8,800 × 0.97 × 0.85) = $3.23.
A rate you were offered ($/loaded mile) tests a real load against the month. At $2.75 the example grosses $24,200, collects $23,474 after factoring and keeps $37.08, about 0.15% of the gross. Technically a profit. In practice, break-even. At $2.74 the month loses $48.28, and the line says the rate is under your break-even.
That makes it a trucking profit calculator as much as a cost sheet, with one limit: it knows what you need from a lane, not what the lane pays. Check the target against the rate confirmation before you sign. If fuel or detention is billed separately, add it per loaded mile to the linehaul before comparing (the fuel surcharge calculator gives the fuel figure), since the break-even here already covers every gallon. Then bill the agreed split on the trucking invoice.
The average cost per mile for trucking
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) publishes an industry-wide trucking cost per mile in its Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking. In ATRI's 2026 cost update, released July 15, 2026 and covering 2025, the average cost to operate a truck was $2.336 per mile, up 3.4% on the year and "the highest per-mile cost in the report's history." Without fuel, costs rose 4.2% to $1.854. Tolls (13.2%), repair and maintenance (8.6%), driver benefits (6.6%) and tires (6.4%) climbed fastest.
Two adjustments come before you hold your own figure against it. ATRI's average includes driver wages and benefits, so an owner-operator who leaves out their own pay is comparing a truck without a driver to one with. The calculator flags this under the result whenever Driver pay is blank.
Fuel is the other. Subtract ATRI's two figures and fuel comes to about 48¢ a mile in its 2025 average. At $6.199 diesel (the U.S. average for the week of October 5, 2026) and 6.5 MPG it is 95.4¢, about twice that. So the calculator compares both ways, total against $2.336 and without fuel against $1.854. The illustrative month shows why: its $2.344 sits within a cent of ATRI's total, but without fuel it is $1.390, which is $0.464 lower. The totals agree; the mix behind them doesn't.
Semi truck cost per mile turns on the truck's payment, lanes and MPG, so an industry average can't price your load. Use ATRI's number to spot a cost you've forgotten, not as a rate.
What the calculator doesn't count
Tax. The IRS's special per diem rate for the transportation industry is $80 a day in the continental US and $86 outside it, for travel on or after October 1, 2026 (Notice 2026-60). That changes your tax bill, not what the truck costs to run, so there's no field for it.
The IFTA return. The pump price already includes fuel tax, and the IFTA calculator works out the quarterly balance between states. If your returns keep leaving a balance due, add it as a yearly fixed cost.
To keep a calculation, name it and press Save in this browser; it stays on this device only. To send one, Share link copies a link that reopens the same numbers. Download CSV lists every line per period and per mile for a spreadsheet.
Cost per mile questions
How to figure cost per mile for trucking?
Add up every cost for a period and divide by every mile driven in it, deadhead included. Fixed costs such as truck and trailer payments, insurance and permits are divided by the miles; fuel is the diesel price ÷ MPG; maintenance, tires and driver pay are already per mile. In the illustrative month on this page, $0.505 of fixed costs plus $1.839 of variable costs make $2.344 a mile.
What is the average cost per mile for trucking?
ATRI puts the industry average at $2.336 per mile for 2025, in its analysis released July 15, 2026; without fuel it was $1.854. That average includes driver wages and benefits, so add your own pay before comparing. Fuel is the part most likely to have moved since: at $6.199 diesel for the week of October 5, 2026 and 6.5 MPG, it is $0.954 a mile, about twice the roughly 48¢ in ATRI's 2025 figure.
How much should I charge per mile?
At least your break-even per loaded mile, plus your margin. The break-even is total cost ÷ (loaded miles × (1 − factoring fee)); for a target margin, divide again by (1 − margin). In this page's illustrative month, a truck costing $2.344 a mile with 12% deadhead and 3% factoring breaks even at $2.75 per loaded mile and needs $3.23 for a 15% margin. The market sets what you are offered; this tells you which offers lose money.
Is there a trucking cost per mile calculator app available?
This one needs no app: it runs in a phone's web browser, free and without an account. Save in this browser stores named budgets on that phone, Share link sends the whole calculation as a link that opens on any device, and Download CSV opens in a spreadsheet app. Saved calculations stay in the browser that saved them and do not sync between devices, so use Share link to move one.
What is the difference between fixed and variable trucking costs?
Fixed costs are what you pay with the truck parked; variable costs come from running it. OOIDA names the truck payment and insurance as the biggest fixed costs, with licenses, permits and accounting; fuel, tires, maintenance, and meals and lodging are variable. The split matters for pricing, because fixed cost per mile falls as miles rise: in the illustrative month it is $0.505 at 10,000 miles and $0.631 at 8,000.
How do deadhead miles affect cost per mile?
Deadhead miles go into cost per mile like any other mile, but they earn nothing, so their real cost shows up in the break-even rate. In the illustrative month, 1,200 empty miles out of 10,000 lift the break-even, with 3% factoring, from $2.42 to $2.75 per loaded mile: about 33¢ on every paid mile. The calculator takes them in the Of which deadhead field and divides by loaded miles only.
What rate per mile do I need to break even?
Total cost for the period divided by loaded miles, grossed up for any factoring fee: total cost ÷ (loaded miles × (1 − factoring %)). The illustrative month costs $23,436.92 over 10,000 miles, 8,800 of them loaded, with 3% factoring, so $23,436.92 ÷ (8,800 × 0.97) = $2.75 per loaded mile. Run the same truck 8,000 miles and it rises to $2.90, because the fixed costs fall on fewer miles.
How can I lower my cost per mile?
The arithmetic offers three levers: more miles over the same fixed costs, better fuel economy, and lower fixed costs. At $6.199 diesel, fuel is $1.033 a mile at 6.0 MPG, $0.954 at 6.5 and $0.886 at 7.0. In the illustrative month, 10,000 miles instead of 8,000 cuts cost per mile from $2.474 to $2.344. Turning deadhead into loaded miles leaves cost per mile alone but lowers the break-even rate, which is the number that pays.
What is a good cost per mile for owner operators?
No single number is good for every truck; an owner-operator's cost per mile is good when the rates on their lanes clear it with room to spare. Two checks help. Against ATRI's 2025 average of $2.336, which includes driver pay, a figure far below may mean a missing cost. Against the market, compare your break-even per loaded mile, not your cost per mile, with the rates you are offered.