CALCULATOR / FREE

Trucking cost per mile calculator

Enter your monthly fixed costs, your fuel, maintenance and tire costs, and the miles you run to get your truck cost per mile, split into fixed and variable, with a chart of where every cent goes.

COST PER MILE · 10,000 MI/MONTHESTIMATE

YOUR COST PER MILE, BEFORE YOUR OWN PAY
$1.61/mi

Fuel$0.939
Repairs and maintenance$0.180
Tires$0.040
Truck payment$0.240
Insurance$0.130
Permits, plates, taxes$0.030
ELD, phone, office$0.050

Fixed per mile (dark bars)	$0.450
Variable per mile (red bars)	$1.159
Monthly cost at these miles	$16,090

ATRI's 2025 industry averages: fuel $0.48/mi, insurance $0.11/mi, all costs $2.34/mi including driver wages, which this calculator leaves out.

Your truck costs $1.61/mi to run before you pay yourself. Our dispatchers book with that number as the floor, and every rate con comes to you to sign or refuse.

Book loads above my cost

How it is calculated

Fixed cost per mile = (truck payment + trailer + insurance + permits, plates and taxes + ELD, phone and office) ÷ miles a month. Count every mile, loaded and empty.

Variable cost per mile = fuel price ÷ miles per gallon + repairs and maintenance per mile + tires per mile.

Truck cost per mile = fixed + variable. It leaves out your own pay on purpose: that is what the rate above your cost is for.

For comparison, ATRI's research on 2025 costs put the industry average at $2.336 a mile, including 48.2 cents of fuel and 10.6 cents of insurance. ATRI's figure includes driver wages and benefits, so it is higher than an owner-operator's cost before pay.

SOURCE: ATRI OPERATIONAL COSTS DATA, REPORTED BY FREIGHTWAVES, JUL 2026

A worked example

An EXAMPLE owner-operator drives 10,000 miles a month with a $2,400 truck payment, $1,300 insurance, $300 of permits and taxes and $500 for ELD, phone and office. Diesel is $6.38 (the EIA U.S. average for the week of Sep 28, 2026) at 6.8 mpg, maintenance 18 cents a mile and tires 4 cents.

COST PER MILEONE MONTH · EXAMPLE

Worked cost per mile example
Item	Amount
Fixed costs, 10,000 mi45 cents a mile	($4,500.00)
Fuel at $0.938/mi	($9,382.00)
Maintenance and tires at $0.22/mi	($2,200.00)
NET	($16,082.00)

SOURCE: U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION, WEEKLY RETAIL DIESEL PRICE, WEEK OF SEP 28, 2026

That is $16,082 a month, or about $1.61 a mile before the owner's pay. Every load has to clear $1.61 for each mile driven, empty miles included, before it pays the owner anything.

What a good or bad result means

Your cost per mile is a floor, not a goal. Add the take-home you want per mile and you have the lowest rate worth accepting. If your fixed share is high, more miles help; if fuel dominates, fuel economy and empty miles matter most.

Check the rate side with the rate per mile calculator and see typical pay in owner-operator rates per mile and owner-operator salary. Starting out? The trucking startup cost calculator covers the costs before the first load.

Three ways to lower your truck cost per mile

Run fewer empty miles. Empty miles carry the full cost of fuel and wear but earn nothing. Planning the next load before you deliver the current one is the cheapest saving in trucking.
Keep the truck moving. Fixed costs are spread over your miles, so idle days raise the cost of every mile you do run.
Watch fuel economy. Speed, idling and tire pressure move miles per gallon, and fuel is usually the biggest variable line.

Save your result to My Truck and our dispatch for owner-operators page and other tools will use it. When you are ready for a desk that books above it, apply.

Calculator questions

Q01What is a good truck cost per mile?

There is no single good number; what matters is the gap between your cost per mile and the rate per mile you earn. As a reference, ATRI's 2025 industry average was $2.336 a mile including fuel and driver wages. An owner-operator's cost before their own pay is usually well below that.

Q02How do I calculate cost per mile for my truck?

Add a month of fixed costs, like the truck payment, insurance and permits, and divide by the miles you drove that month, loaded and empty. Then add your per-mile variable costs: fuel price divided by miles per gallon, plus maintenance and tires. The total is your cost per mile.

Q03Why does my cost per mile go up when I drive less?

Because fixed costs don't shrink with your miles. A $4,500 month of payments and insurance is 45 cents a mile at 10,000 miles but 75 cents at 6,000. That is why a week at home or in the shop raises the rate you need for every load that month.

Q04Is there a trucking cost per mile calculator app?

This calculator works in any phone browser, keeps your last numbers on your device, and can copy a link with your inputs. Save the result to My Truck, and the other calculators on this site use it automatically.

By Daniel

UPDATED OCTOBER 2026

Know your cost. Book above it.

Our dispatchers use your cost per mile as the floor, for every equipment type. Every rate con comes to your company to sign or refuse.

Talk to a dispatcher