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Weekly Profit Target Calculator for Owner Operators

Find out what your truck has to gross each week to keep the profit you want. Then check every Friday how the week really went.

What you want to keep

$

Before income tax. This is your pay plus the business's profit.

Bills that come every month

These are due even if the truck sits. Use what you pay each month.

$
$
$
$
$

Truck parking, accountant, loan for tires, and so on.

Total: $0 a month, or $0 a week.

A typical week

mi
%
mpg
$/gal
$/mi
$
% of gross

Leave empty if you pay none.

days
Fill in your miles and miles per gallon to see what you need to gross. Or press Try an example.

Profit here is before income tax. It is what the truck keeps after its costs, so it covers your pay and the business's profit together. This is an estimate from the numbers you enter, not tax or accounting advice.

Numbers tight? Let a dispatcher find better loads.

This tool is free. If it shows you are leaving money on the road, Grow Trucking finds loads, negotiates rates and does the paperwork for owner-operators and small fleets.

Talk to a dispatcher Call (845) 400-9179

Also: About Grow Trucking · Refer a carrier · Trucking blog

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How much must a truck gross each week?

A truck must gross its weekly costs plus the profit you want, divided by one minus any fee that comes out of the gross. Turn monthly bills into a weekly share, add fuel, repairs and trip costs, add your target, and divide by the miles for the rate you need. Profit here is before income tax.

  1. Add your monthly bills: truck and trailer payments, insurance, ELD and phone, permits and plates, and anything else fixed. Multiply by 12 and divide by 52 for the weekly share.
  2. Work out fuel: miles for the week divided by miles per gallon, times the diesel price.
  3. Add repairs and tires (cost per mile times miles) and weekly trip costs such as tolls and scales.
  4. Add the profit you want. If a dispatch or factoring fee comes out of the gross, divide the total by one minus the fee, for example 0.92 for 8 percent.
  5. Divide the gross needed by the miles you drive for the rate per mile. Divide by loaded miles only for the rate a broker must offer.
Worked example: $2,000 profit target, 2,500 miles a week, 10 percent empty miles, 7 mpg, $6.00 diesel
ItemAmount
Monthly bills $8,000, weekly share$1,846.15
Fuel: 2,500 miles / 7 mpg at $6.00$2,142.86
Repairs and tires at $0.15 a mile$375.00
Tolls, scales and other$150.00
Costs before fees (the break-even week)$4,514.01
Gross needed for $2,000 profit, no fee$6,514.01
Rate needed: per mile driven / per loaded mile$2.61 / $2.90
Gross needed with an 8 percent fee$7,080.45 (fees $566.44)

These are example numbers, not averages. Use your own bills, miles and fuel price. For context, ATRI's 2026 Operational Costs of Trucking report found the average cost of running a truck was $2.336 per mile in 2025, or $1.854 excluding fuel, and that truckload and refrigerated carriers had margins below 1 percent. Those are industry averages that include company-driver pay, so they are not an owner-operator benchmark.

Last reviewed September 2026. Sources: ATRI: new report details accelerating costs and low profitability (2026).

Frequently Asked Questions - Weekly Profit Target Calculator

How much should an owner-operator gross per week?
Enough to pay every cost of the week and still leave the profit you want. Add your monthly bills turned into a weekly share, fuel, repairs, tolls and any fees. Then add the profit you want. In the example on this page, a truck driving 2,500 miles a week needs to gross about $6,514 to keep $2,000. There is no one number for everyone. Your insurance, truck payment, miles per gallon and lanes decide it.
How much does an owner-operator make per week?
Gross and take-home are very different numbers. Job ads often show $6,000 to $12,000 a week in gross. Costs take a big share of that. ATRI's 2026 report puts the average cost of running a truck at $2.336 per mile in 2025, and the average truckload carrier's margin was below 1 percent. Use the Friday check on this page to see what your own week left after costs.
What are an owner-operator's weekly expenses?
Two kinds. Fixed bills come every month whether the truck moves: truck and trailer payments, insurance, ELD, phone and load board, permits and plates, parking. Trip costs change with the miles: fuel, repairs and tires, tolls, scales, lumper fees, and any dispatch or factoring fee. The calculator turns monthly bills into a weekly share by multiplying by 12 and dividing by 52.
What is the difference between gross and net for an owner-operator?
Gross is all the money the truck brings in. Net is what is left after the costs of running the truck. Profit on this page is the money left after truck costs and before income tax. That leftover pays you and the business together, so it is not the same as a paycheck. Leave money for taxes too. The Quarterly Tax Estimator shows how much.
What rate per mile do I need to make a profit?
Divide the gross you need for the week by the miles you drive. This page shows two rates. One is per mile driven, counting empty miles. The other is per loaded mile, which is what a broker quotes. The loaded rate is higher because empty miles cost you money and earn nothing. In the example, $2.61 per mile driven becomes $2.90 per loaded mile with 10 percent empty miles.
How does a dispatch or factoring fee change the gross I need?
More than the fee itself. A fee is a share of the gross, so you must gross more to keep the same profit. The math is costs plus profit, divided by one minus the fee. In the example, an 8 percent fee raises the gross needed from about $6,514 to about $7,080, which is $566 more. Enter your fee in the calculator to see it for your truck.
How do I turn monthly truck bills into a weekly number?
Multiply the monthly amount by 12, then divide by 52. A $2,600 monthly bill is $600 a week. Do not multiply by 4. Four weeks a month leaves out about a week of cost every quarter. The calculator does this for you, and you can see the weekly total under your monthly bills.
Is a $2,000 profit week realistic for an owner-operator?
It depends on your costs and your rate. There is no honest average for every truck. So enter your own bills and miles and read the gross and rate the calculator asks for. Then compare that rate with what loads pay on your lanes. If it is above what you can find, lower the target, cut costs, or cut empty miles.
Are my numbers saved or shared?
No. Your numbers and the weeks you save stay in your own browser on your own device. We never see them, and clearing your browser data removes them.

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Terms explained in the Weekly Profit Target Calculator