Trucking cost per mile calculator
Enter one truck's monthly fixed costs, its per-mile costs and the miles it runs, empty miles included. You get your fixed, variable and total cost per mile, and the rate per loaded mile you need to break even. It runs in your browser, free, with no sign-up.
Your cost per mile
Enter your miles and costs for one truck for one month, then press Calculate. Fixed, variable and total cost per mile and your break-even rate appear here.
An estimate from the numbers you enter. Cost per mile is spread over all miles; the break-even rate is spread over loaded miles only, because empty miles earn nothing. It leaves out income tax and your own profit.
How cost per mile is worked out
Fixed cost per mile
Add up what you pay every month whether the truck moves or not: truck and trailer payments, insurance, permits and plates. Divide by all the miles you drive in the month.
Variable cost per mile
Fuel is the diesel price divided by your miles per gallon. Add maintenance, driver pay and other per-mile costs, plus tolls spread over the month's miles.
Total cost per mile
Fixed plus variable. This is what every mile costs you, loaded or empty.
Break-even rate per loaded mile
Divide the whole month's cost by the loaded miles only. Empty miles cost money but earn nothing, so the loaded miles have to pay for them.
Example: $4,500 of fixed costs and $14,986.92 of variable costs over 10,000 miles is $1.949 per mile. With 1,200 of those miles empty, the $19,486.92 month has to be earned on 8,800 loaded miles: $2.214 per loaded mile to break even.
Questions
What is a good cost per mile for a truck?
It depends on your equipment, lanes, fuel economy and how you pay drivers, which is why it is worth working out your own. Compare your break-even rate per loaded mile with the rates you are offered, not with another fleet's number.
Why does break-even use loaded miles only?
A broker pays for the loaded miles on the rate confirmation. The empty miles to reach the pickup still burn fuel and wear the truck, so their cost has to be covered by what the loaded miles pay.
How is percentage driver pay handled?
Pay as a percentage of revenue depends on the rate itself, so the calculator solves for the revenue at which every cost, including that percentage, is covered. Driver pay is shown at that break-even revenue.
Should I include my own pay as an owner-operator?
Yes, if you want the break-even rate to cover your living. Put what you need to take home per mile in driver pay. Leave it out to see only what the truck costs to run.
How does Yolda track this for real loads?
Yolda's trucking accounting software closes a statement for each truck every Monday, with revenue, miles, driver pay, fuel, tolls and maintenance from the loads and charges you record, so you see which units made money without building a spreadsheet.
See Yolda's trucking accounting software, or estimate your quarter with the free IFTA calculator.