Enter your real costs — truck payment, insurance, fuel, maintenance — and see your true cost per mile, your break-even rate, and what any load actually pays you. Free, instant, no signup.
Itemize what your truck really costs every month — the calculator turns it into your true cost per mile and the minimum rate you can accept.
Any load priced below your cost per mile loses money before the wheels turn. Know this number before you ever talk to a broker. More tools: all 8 free trucking calculators.
Every load you book is priced per mile — but most carriers negotiate without knowing what a mile actually costs them. That is how a $2.10 load that "sounds fine" quietly loses money, and why the first thing any good dispatcher asks is: what is your cost per mile?
Your cost per mile (CPM) is simply everything your operation spends in a month, divided by the miles you run. Once you know it, three decisions become automatic: which loads to reject instantly, what rate to counter at, and whether a lane is worth the deadhead. Industry research (ATRI) has put the average marginal cost of running a truck at roughly $2.20–$2.30 per mile in recent years including driver wages — if you are booking below that without knowing your own number, you are guessing with your business.
Fixed costs hit every month whether the truck moves or not: truck and trailer payments, insurance, plates and permits, ELD subscription, parking. Because they are fixed, running more miles spreads them thinner — a $4,200 fixed month is $0.42/mi at 10,000 miles but $0.60/mi at 7,000 miles. Sitting still literally raises your cost per mile.
Variable costs scale with every mile: fuel (your biggest — diesel price divided by your MPG), maintenance reserve, and tires. A realistic maintenance reserve is $0.15–$0.25 per mile on an older truck; skipping it does not make the repair cheaper, it just makes it a surprise.
| Cost item | Typical range | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Truck payment | $1,200–$2,500 / mo | Fixed |
| Trailer payment | $400–$700 / mo | Fixed |
| Insurance | $900–$1,800 / mo | Fixed |
| Plates, permits, ELD | $150–$350 / mo | Fixed |
| Fuel | $0.55–$0.70 / mi | Variable |
| Maintenance reserve | $0.15–$0.25 / mi | Variable |
| Tires | $0.03–$0.05 / mi | Variable |
Plug your own numbers into the calculator above — averages are for sanity-checking, not for pricing your loads. Compare the result against this week’s market rates per mile to see which lanes actually clear your break-even.
1. Kill deadhead — empty miles carry full cost and zero revenue; one round-trip lane plan can cut CPM more than any fuel card. 2. Slow down 3–5 mph — typically worth 0.5+ MPG, which is $0.04–$0.06/mi at today’s diesel prices. 3. Shop insurance yearly — renewals drift up; quotes pull them back. 4. Run more of the miles you already pay for — fixed costs per mile fall as monthly miles rise. 5. Take the per diem deduction — it does not change CPM, but $64 per night away changes what you keep. 6. Stop paying for load-hunting time — hours on load boards are unpaid work; a flat-fee dispatcher costs 5% and gives you those hours back.
Industry research (ATRI) puts the average marginal cost of trucking at roughly $2.20 to $2.30 per mile including driver wages. A solo owner-operator who drives their own truck typically lands between $1.40 and $1.90 per mile before paying themselves. Your number depends on your truck payment, insurance, fuel economy and monthly miles - which is exactly what this calculator works out.
Add up your fixed monthly costs (truck and trailer payments, insurance, plates, permits, parking) and divide by the miles you run per month. Then add your variable cost per mile: fuel (diesel price divided by MPG), a maintenance reserve, and tires. Fixed per mile plus variable per mile is your true cost per mile.
Never book below your cost per mile - that is your break-even. Most dispatchers target at least a 20-30% margin above break-even, adjusted for the lane, deadhead, and the week’s market. Check current market rates per mile on our live rates page before you negotiate.
Driver pay is an optional field. If you drive your own truck, leave it at zero and treat profit as your pay. If you put a company driver in the seat, enter their per-mile wage so the cost per mile reflects it.
Yes - free, no signup, no login, and it runs entirely in your browser. It is the same math our dispatch team uses when pricing loads for Loadboot carriers. We also have seven more free calculators covering profit per load, fuel, break-even, take-home pay and detention.
Get a free quote today and see how much more your truck could be earning with a dispatcher in your corner.
Get Started