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Cost Per Mile Calculator for Owner Operators

Know your exact cost per mile, the rate that breaks even, and the rate to quote per loaded mile once fees, empty miles and your own pay are counted.

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Fixed Monthly Costs

$
$
$
$
$
$

Variable Costs

$/gal
mpg
$/gal
% of diesel
$
$
$
$

Fees Taken From Each Load

Dispatch and factoring fees are a percent of revenue, so they grow with your rate. Leave at 0 if you pay neither.

% of revenue
% of revenue

Miles & Revenue

mi
$
% of miles

What You Want to Earn

Optional. Used to work out the rate to quote. The costs above do not include any pay for you as the driver.

$
% of revenue

Fill in your costs and click Calculate CPM

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What is the average cost per mile to operate a semi truck?

ATRI's 2026 Operational Costs of Trucking report puts the average cost of running a truck at $2.336 per mile in 2025, a record. It is $1.854 per mile without fuel. To find your own cost per mile, add every cost for a period, fixed and variable. Then divide by all the miles driven in that period, loaded and empty. Two things change the answer: fees that are a percent of revenue, such as dispatch and factoring, and your own pay as the driver.

  1. Add your fixed monthly costs: truck and trailer payments, insurance, permits, ELD and health insurance. Divide by all your miles for the month, loaded and empty.
  2. Add your costs per mile: fuel price divided by your MPG, DEF (2 to 3 percent of the diesel burned on-road, 3 to 5 percent per Cummins), tires, maintenance and tolls.
  3. Add dispatch and factoring fees as a percent of revenue. They grow with the rate, so your break-even rate is your cost per mile divided by one minus the fee percent, not your cost plus a fee.
  4. Add what you want to pay yourself, per mile, since the costs above do not include any pay for you.
  5. To quote a rate, divide costs, fees and your pay by one minus the fee percent and the margin you want. Then divide by the share of miles that are loaded, because only loaded miles are paid.
ATRI average operating cost per mile, 2025
CostPer mile
Total operating cost$2.336
Total excluding fuel$1.854
Fuelabout $0.48
Repair and maintenanceabout $0.40
Tiresabout $0.05

ATRI's figures come from carrier surveys and include driver wages and benefits. An owner-operator pays those to themself rather than to an employee. Use them as a benchmark for your own numbers, and enter your own pay in the calculator so the comparison is fair.

Last reviewed October 2026. Sources: ATRI: operational costs of trucking; ATRI: 2026 report release.

Frequently Asked Questions - Cost Per Mile Calculator

What is the average cost per mile to run a semi truck in 2026?
The American Transportation Research Institute's 2026 Operational Costs of Trucking report found the average all-in cost of operating a truck was $2.336 per mile in 2025, a record high, or $1.854 per mile excluding fuel. That is an industry average covering carriers of all sizes, including driver wages, not a per-owner-operator benchmark, so compare it to your own number rather than treating it as a universal target.
What expenses should I include in cost per mile (CPM)?
Include every cost of running the truck for the period: fuel, maintenance, tires, insurance, the truck payment, permits, tolls, ELD and phone, driver pay if it applies, and depreciation. Leaving out fixed costs like insurance and permits is the most common way owner-operators understate their real CPM.
How often should I recalculate my cost per mile?
Recalculate at least every quarter to track the trend, and immediately after any major change, such as a fuel price spike, an insurance renewal, or a new truck payment. A CPM figure from six months ago can already be stale if your fixed costs or fuel prices have moved.
What's the difference between loaded CPM and all-miles CPM?
Loaded CPM divides your costs by only your revenue (loaded) miles. All-miles CPM divides the same costs by every mile driven, including deadhead. All-miles CPM is the more accurate number for judging real profitability, since fuel and fixed costs apply to every mile, not just the paid ones.
How do I calculate cost per mile for a truck?
Add every cost for a period, both fixed (truck payment, insurance, permits, ELD) and variable (fuel, maintenance, tires, tolls, driver pay), then divide by all the miles driven in that same period, loaded and empty. For example, $17,000 of costs over 9,000 miles is $1.89 per mile. Use the same time period for both numbers.
How do dispatch and factoring fees change my break-even rate?
They are a percent of the rate, so they rise when the rate rises. Your break-even rate is your cost per mile divided by one minus the fee percent. With costs of $1.90 a mile and 8% in fees, break-even is $1.90 / 0.92 = $2.07 a mile, not the $2.05 you would get by adding 8%. Adding 8% to $1.90 would be wrong, because the fee also comes out of the extra money.
What rate per loaded mile should I quote?
Add your cost per mile and what you want to pay yourself, then divide by one minus your fee percent and the profit margin you want. That gives a rate for every mile. Divide it by the share of miles that are loaded, because empty miles earn nothing. With 10% empty miles, you divide by 0.9. The calculator does all of this and shows the rate per loaded mile.
Should my cost per mile include my own pay?
For a break-even number, no: it shows what the truck costs. For the rate you quote, yes. A rate that only covers costs leaves you working for free. Enter what you want to take home each month in the calculator and it adds that to the rate. ATRI's average includes driver wages, so your own pay has to be counted to compare with it.
How does my cost per mile compare with ATRI's average?
ATRI's 2026 report puts the average at $2.336 a mile in 2025, or $1.854 without fuel, and it includes driver wages and benefits. Add your own pay per mile to your cost per mile and compare the two. The average covers carriers of every size and type, so it is a reference, not a target.

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Go Further With Cost Per Mile Calculator

Guides, services and reference pages that go with this tool.

Terms explained in the Cost Per Mile Calculator