How do I work out my cost per mile?

What is cost per mile, and why does it matter?

Cost per mile is what it costs you to run one mile, all costs in. A rate sheet or a load board shows what a load pays per mile. Without your own number, you cannot tell whether a load pays or loses money, because a rate that looks good can sit below your cost once you count the empty miles to get there.

It matters most when you are new. A new authority has no history to tell it which loads work, and fixed costs such as a truck payment arrive whether you are loaded or not.

How do I calculate cost per mile?

Three steps:

1. Add up your fixed costs for the month. These do not change with the miles you drive.
2. Divide them by your total miles for the month. That is your fixed cost per mile.
3. Add your per-mile costs. Fuel per mile is the price of a gallon divided by your miles per gallon. Add maintenance and tires per mile, driver pay per mile if you pay a driver, and anything else that moves with miles.

In one line:

Cost per mile = (monthly fixed costs ÷ total monthly miles) + fuel per mile + maintenance per mile + other per-mile costs

That number is also your break-even rate. If you want to earn a profit on each mile, add it on top.

Which costs go in the calculation?

Fixed costs (the same whether you drive 3,000 miles or 12,000):

• Truck and trailer payments
• Insurance, using your own actual bill
• Permits and registrations that recur, such as UCR, apportioned plates, and fuel tax licensing (see our compliance checklist)
• The heavy vehicle use tax, if your truck is heavy enough, spread over the months
• ELD, phone, parking, and software
• Accounting and bookkeeping

Per-mile costs (these rise and fall with the miles):

• Fuel
• Maintenance, repairs, and tires
• Tolls, scales, and lumper fees that you pay
• Driver pay, if you employ a driver. If you drive yourself, leave this at zero for now and decide below how to treat your own pay.

Use your real numbers where you have them. For a brand-new operation, use actual bills and statements from your own agent, lender, and shops, not averages from the internet. If you do not have a number yet, say so in the sheet and update it later.

Which miles do I count?

All of them, loaded and empty. Empty miles, called deadhead, burn fuel and wear the truck, so leaving them out makes your cost look lower than it is.

There is a second way to look at it. Your cost per mile is spread over every mile you drive. But a load pays on loaded miles only. If 20 percent of your miles are empty, you need a higher rate on the loaded miles to cover them. The worked example below shows the difference.

What does a worked example look like?

Here is an example, with invented numbers except the diesel price, not typical figures for anyone's operation.

The diesel price is the U.S. average on-highway price from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, $6.199 a gallon for the week of October 5, 2026, rounded to $6.20 (prices include taxes). Everything else is made up for illustration.

The math:

• Fuel per mile: $6.20 ÷ 6.5 = about $0.95
• Fixed cost per mile: $4,000 ÷ 10,000 = $0.40
• Maintenance per mile: $0.20
• Cost per mile: about $1.55, which is also the break-even rate

Monthly cost is about $15,538. Now suppose 2,000 of those 10,000 miles are empty. Loaded miles are 8,000. To cover $15,538 on 8,000 loaded miles, you need about $1.94 per loaded mile, not $1.55.

Then suppose a slow month, and you drive only 7,000 miles. Fixed costs do not shrink: $4,000 ÷ 7,000 is about $0.57 a mile. Your cost per mile moves to about $1.73. That is why a quiet month hurts more than the lost revenue suggests.

The calculator below runs the same math from your numbers. Its defaults are examples. Only the diesel price is a published figure.

How do I use my cost per mile when I look at a load?

Compare it to what the load pays per mile, counting every mile you drive to run it, empty ones included. Take the total pay for the load and divide by the total miles it takes you, including the empty miles to the pickup and any trip home.

If the load pays less than your cost per mile, it loses money before your own pay. If it pays more, the difference is what is left for your pay, taxes, and savings. A rate that looks fine on the board often fails this test once you add the miles to pick it up.

Some costs show up as timing problems, not rate problems. A load that clears your break-even can still strain your cash if the customer pays in 30 days or more. Factoring turns delivered invoices into cash sooner, and a fuel card is one way to separate fuel spending. Both have costs of their own. BreadRoute is not a lender, and a financing request goes to third-party providers who make their own decisions on terms. You can check what a factoring fee would do to your numbers with the factoring cost tool.

What does the number leave out?

Your cost per mile covers what you put in. It does not include:

• Your own pay, unless you enter it as driver pay. Decide what you need to take home and add it as profit per mile.
• Income taxes, depreciation, and money set aside for downtime or repairs.
• Costs that are not on your list, such as detention, fines, and breakdown time.

So a load that pays your break-even rate keeps you running and pays you nothing. Treat the break-even rate as the floor, and set a target above it.

How often should I recalculate?

Whenever a big input changes: fuel moves, your miles change, a bill goes up, or you add a truck. Many operators recalculate monthly. A new payment, a renewal, or a new route can change your cost per mile in one step.

If you are thinking about adding a unit, check the new payment first. The equipment payment estimator shows a payment range from your own numbers, and you can drop that payment into your fixed costs.