Truck cost per mile
Fixed plus variable cost per mile for one tractor, and the break-even rate.
Get this tool with its role plan
This is a premium tool. It comes with its role's plan: sign in, then add the role in Billing.
Comes with the fleet and rental manager plan: every tool for the role, from $10.20 a month at the launch price.
- Your own numbers, worked out as often as you like
- The full quote sheet you can print or save to My work
- 3 cited sources, linked, with the checks to make
- Every other tool for the same role, in the same plan
- A plain-words read of your result (a fuller AI read with the Bifrost AI add-on)
Included in these role plans
Example result · fictional numbers
What you get: quote sheet
Worked out by this tool from its default inputs. Its role plan lets you run your own numbers, print the sheet and save it.
$1.857 per mile; quote this lane at no less than $1,344.69
- Fixed cost per mile
- $0.411
- Fuel per mile
- $0.566
- Variable cost per mile
- $1.446
- Total cost per mile
- $1.857
- Monthly operating cost
- $17,639
- Break-even at 15% margin
- $2.18 per mile
Cost statement (one truck, one month)
- Fixed costs per month
- $3,900.00 (payment, insurance, permits and overhead)
- Fixed cost per mile
- $0.411
- Fuel per mile
- $0.566 ($3.85 a gallon at 6.8 mpg)
- Maintenance, tires and driver per mile
- $0.880
- Variable costs per month
- $13,738.68
- Total cost per mile (all miles)
- $1.857
and 2 more lines
Also on the sheet
- Rate per loaded mile · 3 lines, starting with “Loaded miles per month”
- Lane quote sheet · 7 lines, starting with “Miles”
The plain-words read of this example
Your truck costs $1.857 a mile over all miles, $0.411 fixed and $1.446 variable; ATRI's 2025 industry average was $2.336. With 12% of miles empty you need $2.110 per loaded mile to break even, and $2.482 to keep a 15% margin. On the 620-mile lane the floor is $1,344.69 and the $1,750.00 offer clears your target. Fuel is 30% of your cost, so every 10 cents on diesel moves it by $0.015 a mile. Check these figures against your books before you use them in a contract rate.
3 cited sources
- An Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking (annual update) (American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI))
- ATRI report breaks down Class 8 truck operating costs by region and expense category (FleetOwner)
- Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update (weekly on-highway prices) (US Energy Information Administration)
Plus 5 step-by-step checks, a print layout and a link that reopens it with your numbers.