Rate Per Mile Calculator for Truckers
A load that pays $3.00 a mile can leave you with less than one that pays $2.50. The difference is usually the empty miles you drive to get to the pickup. Use the calculator to see the number that counts.
The numbers in the calculator are only an example. Replace them with the load in front of you. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
The three numbers that matter
- Loaded rate per mile is the pay divided by the loaded miles. It is the number every load board shows, and it ignores the miles you drove empty to reach the pickup.
- All-in rate per mile is the pay divided by all the miles you drive for the load, loaded and deadhead together. This is the honest number.
- Cost per mile is your total operating cost divided by your total miles. Compare the all-in rate against it, and compare it against nothing else.
A worked example
These numbers are made up to show the arithmetic. Use your own.
| Load pays | $1,800 |
|---|---|
| Loaded miles | 600 |
| Deadhead miles to the pickup | 100 |
| Loaded rate per mile | $1,800 ÷ 600 = $3.00 |
| All-in rate per mile | $1,800 ÷ 700 = $2.57 |
| Your cost per mile | $2.00 |
| Profit per mile | $2.57 − $2.00 = $0.57 |
| Profit on the trip | $1,800 − (700 × $2.00) = $400 |
The load looked like $3.00 a mile. After the empty miles it is $2.57, and after your costs it is $0.57 a mile.
How to work out your cost per mile
Add up what it costs to run the truck over a period, such as a month, then divide by the miles you drove in the same period. Count everything, not only fuel:
- Fuel
- Driver pay, or your own pay if you drive yourself
- Truck and trailer payments or lease
- Insurance
- Maintenance, repairs and tires
- Permits, tolls, parking and other fees
- Dispatch, factoring and software fees
Use your own figures. Averages that people quote online rarely match a particular truck, lane or fuel price.
Mistakes that make a load look better than it is
- Leaving out deadhead. Count every empty mile between the last delivery and this pickup.
- Ignoring the wait. A load that ties up a day of detention or a slow reload costs you a day of miles you could have driven.
- Forgetting the return. If the delivery is in a place where freight is thin, the next load may start with a long empty leg. Count it when you compare.
- Comparing against the board average. The average on a load board is not your cost. Your cost per mile decides whether a load is worth taking.
Get the real miles without writing them down
Estimates are only as good as the mileage you enter. In the HitchLink driver app, the phone's GPS records the actual deadhead and loaded miles for each load, so the numbers you see after a delivery are real ones.
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