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Form 10 · Trucking · Owner-operators

Cost Per Mile Calculator

Put in a month of fixed costs, your per-mile running costs and the miles you run. Then test a load: rate, loaded miles and deadhead give you profit and the break-even rate.

StowSheet · Form 10Cost per mile and load profit
Distance unit
Fixed costs per month

Fixed costs per month

Annual costs ÷ 12

Variable costs

Running costs

Test a load

Test a load

Cost and load sheet
Total cost per mile– 
Fixed per mile–
Running per mile–
Monthly cost–
Load profit–
Rate per loaded mile–
Break-even for this load–

How the cost per mile calculator works

Every load board rate is a number per mile, so the only way to know whether to take a load is to know your own cost per mile. This calculator builds it from two kinds of cost.

  • Fixed costs arrive every month whether the truck turns a wheel or not: truck and trailer payments, insurance, plates and permits, the ELD subscription, parking. Divide by the miles you run in a month and you get fixed cost per mile. Run fewer miles and this number goes up.
  • Running costs come with every mile: fuel (price ÷ MPG), maintenance and repairs, tires, tolls, and driver pay. If you drive the truck yourself, put in what you need to earn per mile; otherwise the "profit" is really your wage.
  • Percentage costs such as factoring or a dispatch service come off the rate, so they are applied to revenue, not miles.

The load section then prices a real trip: the rate, the loaded miles and the deadhead miles you will run to get to the shipper. Cost is charged on all the miles; revenue only comes from the loaded ones.

Formulas

Fixed CPM = fixed costs per month ÷ total miles per month Fuel CPM = fuel price per gallon ÷ MPG Total CPM = fixed CPM + fuel CPM + other per-mile costs Trip cost = (loaded + deadhead miles) × total CPM Profit = rate − rate × fee % − trip cost Break-even rate = trip cost ÷ (1 − fee %) Rate per mile = rate ÷ loaded miles

Worked example

An owner-operator has $4,000 a month of fixed costs (truck $2,500, insurance $1,200, permits $300) and runs 10,000 miles a month. The truck averages 6.5 mpg on $4.00 diesel; maintenance is put aside at 15 cents a mile and tires at 4 cents. They pay 3 % to a factoring company.

  • Fixed: $4,000 ÷ 10,000 = $0.400 a mile.
  • Fuel: $4.00 ÷ 6.5 = $0.615 a mile; with maintenance and tires, running costs are $0.805.
  • Total: $1.205 a mile, before any pay for the driver.
  • A load paying $2,400 for 1,000 loaded miles, with 100 miles of deadhead: trip cost is 1,100 × $1.205 = $1,325.92; factoring takes $72; profit is $1,002.08.
  • The load pays $2.40 per loaded mile. Break-even is $1,325.92 ÷ 0.97 = $1,366.93, or $1.37 per loaded mile.

That $1,002 has to pay the driver: 1,100 miles at 60 cents is $660, which leaves $342. Run the same truck 8,000 miles a month instead of 10,000 and fixed cost rises to 50 cents a mile, which takes $110 off this load's profit.

Mistakes that hide losses

  • Dividing by loaded miles only. Cost per mile is on every mile the truck runs. Deadhead is a cost; rate per mile is the only figure measured on loaded miles.
  • Not paying yourself. A load that covers fuel and payments but not your time is a loss. Put your own pay in as a per-mile or monthly cost.
  • No maintenance reserve. Repairs arrive in lumps. Setting aside a fixed amount per mile turns a surprise $8,000 bill into a planned cost.
  • Forgetting the annual bills. IRP plates, the federal heavy vehicle use tax (Form 2290), UCR and permits are paid once a year; spread them over twelve months.
  • Using a good month as the plan. Breakdowns, home time and slow weeks cut miles. Plan on a realistic average, not the best month.

Questions shippers ask

What is a good cost per mile for an owner-operator?

There is no universal figure: it depends on equipment age, insurance, lane, fuel and miles. The American Transportation Research Institute publishes an annual survey of trucking operating costs per mile that is the standard benchmark. Compare your own number with it, but price loads on yours.

How do I calculate rate per mile?

Divide the load's total rate by its loaded miles. A $2,600 load over 1,000 miles is $2.60 per mile. Compare it with your break-even, which includes the deadhead to get there.

Should deadhead miles count?

Yes. They cost fuel, wear and time. A load with 300 deadhead miles has to pay for 300 more miles than its rate per mile suggests.

How many miles does an owner-operator run per month?

Over-the-road operators commonly run somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 miles a month; regional and local operations run fewer. Use your own logs: the figure matters because fixed cost per mile falls as miles rise.

Can I use kilometres?

Yes. Switch the distance unit to km and enter costs per kilometre, economy in L/100 km and fuel price per litre. Every result is then per kilometre.

Sources