Your Cost Per Mile Is the Only Number That Matters
Carriers do not go under because rates are low. They go under because they accepted rates below a number they never calculated.
By Day One Authority · Updated
The short answer
- Cost per mile = (fixed costs + variable costs) ÷ total miles, including deadhead.
- Fixed costs continue whether the truck moves or not — insurance, truck note, permits, ELD.
- A typical one-truck dry van operation lands between $1.65 and $2.10 all-in per mile.
- Always price on total miles, not loaded miles, or deadhead silently eats your margin.
- Recalculate monthly for the first year; your estimates will be wrong and that is fine.
Ask ten new carriers what their cost per mile is and eight will give you a fuel-and-a-feeling answer. The number matters because every rate negotiation, every load board decision, and every "should I take this to get home" question resolves to a comparison against it. Without it you are guessing with a $150,000 asset.
Separate fixed from variable
Fixed costs accrue with the calendar. Variable costs accrue with the odometer. You need both, because fixed costs are what make an idle week so expensive and variable costs are what make a long cheap load so deceptive.
| Item | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Truck payment | $1,900 |
| Trailer payment | $450 |
| Primary liability + cargo + physical damage | $1,350 |
| Occupational accident / health | $350 |
| ELD + TMS subscriptions | $85 |
| Permits, UCR, IRP amortized | $180 |
| Accounting, consortium, admin | $220 |
| Total fixed | $4,535 |
| Item | Per mile |
|---|---|
| Fuel at $3.95/gal ÷ 6.4 MPG | $0.617 |
| Tires | $0.045 |
| Maintenance + PM reserve | $0.170 |
| Tolls / scales / parking | $0.055 |
| Driver pay (if hired) | $0.600 |
| Total variable (owner-driver, no driver pay) | $0.887 |
The formula
At 9,500 total miles a month, fixed cost per mile is $4,535 ÷ 9,500 = $0.477. Add variable of $0.887 and your all-in cost per mile is roughly $1.36 before you pay yourself. That is the number a rate must beat before it produces a single dollar of income, and it is why the same $2.10/mile load is excellent at 11,000 miles a month and a loss at 6,000.
Deadhead is not free
A 600-mile load with 120 miles of deadhead is a 720-mile job. A $1,500 rate looks like $2.50 per loaded mile and is actually $2.08 per total mile. Brokers quote loaded miles because it flatters the rate. Run every offer through total miles, including the empty move to the next pickup, before you say yes.
Evaluating a load in 60 seconds
- 1
Total miles
Deadhead to pickup + loaded miles.
- 2
Divide the rate
Linehaul plus fuel surcharge ÷ total miles = your real rate per mile.
- 3
Subtract your CPM
Anything above your all-in cost per mile is contribution to income.
- 4
Check the exit
A great rate into a dead market is a bad load. Price the next move before booking this one.
- 5
Check the clock
Appointment windows that burn a full HOS cycle cost you the next load too.