Trucking cost per mile calculator

How the calculator works out your cost per mile

The formula is simple; the work is in the inputs.

Cost per mile = (fixed costs per month + running costs per month) ÷ total miles per month

• Fixed costs come due whether the wheels turn or not: the truck and trailer notes, insurance, permits and registration spread over twelve months, the ELD, and smaller items like your phone and accounting.
• Running costs rise and fall with the miles: fuel, maintenance and repairs, tires, tolls, and the dispatch fee if you use one.
• Fuel is worked out for you: miles ÷ miles per gallon × the diesel price. The price starts at the latest U.S. on-highway diesel average from the EIA, refreshed every time this site is built. Change it to what you actually pay.

Source: EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update · checked Oct 2026

The dispatch fee line is the only one that depends on revenue. It is your typical gross per mile × your miles × the fee percentage. Set the fee to 0 if you dispatch yourself.

A worked example

Carrier A runs 10,000 miles a month. Every mile costs about $1.85 before Carrier A takes any pay. A load offered at $2.10 a loaded mile with 120 empty miles on a 700-mile trip pays $1,470 over 820 miles: $1.79 a mile all-in. It looks fine on the board and loses money on the receipt.

What a good and a bad result look like

There is no single good number, because a heavy-haul flatbed and a 26 ft box truck have different trucks, fuel and freight. What matters is the gap between your cost per mile and what your loads pay:

• Rates well above your CPM, counting deadhead: the business works. Watch the fixed costs when you add equipment.
• Rates near your CPM: you are working for the truck. Look first at the biggest lines on the stack, usually fuel and the truck note, then at empty miles.
• Rates below your CPM: every load deepens the hole. Change lanes, rates or costs before the next load, not after the next month.

For context, ATRI's 2026 update put the 2025 industry-average operating cost at $2.336 a mile, or $1.854 without fuel. That figure includes driver wages and benefits and leans toward larger fleets, so treat it as a reference point, not a target.

Source: ATRI, Operational Costs of Trucking: 2026 Update · checked Oct 2026

Where most owner-operators miscount

1. Leaving out yearly bills. IRP plates, IFTA decals, UCR and Form 2290 are paid once a year but cost every month. Divide them by twelve.
2. Using loaded miles only. Empty miles burn the same fuel. Use every mile in the CPM, then judge loads by their all-in rate.
3. Budgeting maintenance at zero. A month without a repair isn't a month without a repair cost. Set aside a steady amount per mile.
4. Forgetting your own pay. A truck that only covers its costs leaves you working for free.

Next steps with your number

Take your cost per mile to every rate conversation. The rate per mile calculator turns any offer into an all-in rate you can compare against it, and the tire cost per mile calculator sharpens one of the lines on the stack. For the full list of what goes into the number, see trucking costs and fuel cost per mile for a semi truck.

If you would rather spend your hours driving than countering brokers, our dispatch service for owner-operators books against the floor you just worked out, and every load comes to you first for a yes or no. Send your numbers with an application.