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Check your rate per mile.

Enter the offer, loaded miles, deadhead, and optional occupied working days. See the loaded-mile rate, modeled expenses, and whether the offer meets the sample earnings minimum.

This free check uses fixed illustrative costs. A full Backhaul check uses your truck profile and reviewed load details. 14-day solo trial, starting after your first successful full check. No card.

Sample math

For semi-truck owner-operators and small carriers. Illustrative costs, not your truck’s costs. Box trucks are supported; use their own MPG, costs and equipment in a full check.

Enter only whole working days you already know the truck is committed, including positioning, loading, known waiting, and blocked availability. You do not need to predict unknown waiting. Leave blank for an earnings comparison with the daily goal.

Sample assumptions — see the costs used in this estimate.

Illustrative assumptions: $5.10/gal diesel, 7.5 MPG, about $0.81/mi fixed costs and maintenance, a $300 per occupied working day earnings minimum, and a 20% markup on modeled truck expenses. The $2.57/loaded-mile illustrative benchmark is context only and is not used as comparable lane evidence or to set an ask. These are fixed examples, not live national averages. If the working-day commitment is blank, remaining earnings are compared with the daily goal without inventing a trip duration. Actual waiting or blocked availability can change daily earnings. Tolls not included. Driver pay, dispatch fees, and taxes are also excluded. Full checks use your truck, a current diesel benchmark, route miles, deadhead, toll estimates, pay rules, and fixed bills.

The math under the verdict

Rate per mile is the input. Cost per mile is the answer.

Every load board shows rate per mile. It answers one question — what the broker pays per loaded mile — and hides two: what the run costs you, and what the empty miles do to the average.

Say the offer is $2.25 a mile for 700 loaded miles, with 150 empty miles to the pickup. That’s $1,575 spread over 850 real miles — $1.85 per mile the truck actually drives. A $2.05 load with 10 deadhead miles pays $2.02. On the sample cost profile below, the “cheaper” load also keeps more actual dollars — about $378 against $309 — while putting 140 fewer miles on the truck.

That’s why this calculator asks for deadhead, and why it answers in dollars kept — not just division.

Five steps, one number

How to calculate your all-in cost per mile.

  1. Add up the fixed bills. Truck and trailer payment, insurance, plates and permits, parking, ELD, phone, software — everything you pay whether the truck moves or not. Divide by the miles you actually run in a month. Fewer miles in a slow month means a higher cost per mile.
  2. Price the fuel. Diesel dollars per gallon divided by your real MPG. At $5.10 and 7.5 MPG, that’s $0.68 a mile.
  3. Reserve for maintenance. Tires, PMs, and the breakdown you haven’t had yet. This sample uses $0.20 per mile. Set your reserve using your maintenance history and equipment needs.
  4. Keep per-load extras separate. Tolls, lumpers, dispatch or factoring fees belong on the specific load they ride with — not buried in the per-mile average.
  5. Multiply by total miles. All-in cost per mile × (loaded + deadhead) is the cost floor for the run. Revenue above it is yours. Below it, you’re paying to drive.
Worked example — sample profile

The same numbers this page’s calculator runs: $5.10/gal diesel, 7.5 MPG, $6,090 in fixed bills over 10,000 miles a month, $0.20/mi maintenance reserve. This worked result assumes two occupied working days at a $300/day earnings minimum; enter a working-day commitment in the calculator only when known.

Fixed bills ÷ monthly miles$0.61/mi
Diesel $5.10 ÷ 7.5 MPG$0.68/mi
Maintenance reserve$0.20/mi
All-in cost per mile$1.49/mi
Meets sample minimum · assuming 2 occupied days
Sample load$1,950 · 799 loaded + 40 DH
Cost floor · 839 mi × $1.49≈ $1,249
Offered per loaded mile$2.44 · illustrative reference $2.57
Sample minimum · 2 days at $300/day$1,849.29
Keep before tax$701

Current market context

Sanity-check your number against the market.

ATRI reports an industry-average operating cost of $2.336 per mile for 2025 in its 2026 study. Use that benchmark alongside your own costs. Equipment, mileage, fuel, compensation and the costs included in the calculation all affect the result. Include your own pay when evaluating what the business earns.

Fuel is the swing line. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes the national average on-highway diesel price every Monday. The sample math on this page pins diesel at $5.10 a gallon; a signed-in check swaps in the current week’s number automatically.

$2.336/miIndustry-average operating cost — ATRI 2026 report, 2025 data
$5.10/galDiesel assumption in this page’s sample math
MondaysEIA publishes the national diesel average — real checks use it

Sources: ATRI operational costs of trucking · EIA weekly on-highway diesel prices

Is this load worth it?

What the verdict means.

Meets minimum

The offer covers modeled expenses and the chosen earnings requirements on stated occupied working days. This does not establish the best available lane rate.

Below minimum

The current offer is below your minimum acceptable rate. Below expenses means modeled truck costs are not covered either. Recheck a higher offer before deciding; a higher optional ask is separate.

Timing warning

If the working-day commitment is unknown, compare remaining earnings with the daily goal. Unexpected waiting or blocked availability can reduce daily earnings; it does not automatically trigger a counter.

The verdicts come from the same engine behind Backhaul’s full load check — this page just runs it on a sample cost profile. Want the full receipt? See a complete sample check. Related tools: know your cost per mile, or run one offer through the load profit calculator.

Straight answers

Questions drivers ask about rate per mile.

What is a good rate per mile for trucking?

There isn't one national number — rates move by lane, season, and equipment. The number that matters is yours: your all-in cost per mile plus the margin you want. For context, ATRI's 2026 report gives an industry-average operating cost of $2.336 per mile for 2025. Your truck, mileage and included costs may differ; use your own cost profile for the decision.

How do I calculate cost per mile?

Add up your fixed monthly bills and divide by the miles you actually run in a month, then add fuel per mile (diesel price ÷ MPG) and a maintenance reserve per mile. That's your all-in cost per mile — multiply it by a load's total miles, deadhead included, to get the cost floor for that run.

Do deadhead miles count in rate per mile?

Brokers quote rate per loaded mile, but your truck burns fuel, tires, and hours on every mile. Spread the load's revenue over total miles — loaded plus deadhead — before you judge it. A $2.25 loaded-mile rate with 150 empty miles can pay worse than a $2.05 load with 10.

What is the difference between rate per mile and cost per mile?

Rate per mile is what the load pays per loaded mile. Cost per mile is what your truck spends to run a mile — fuel, fixed bills, maintenance. Profit is the gap between them, which is why this calculator shows a cost floor and a keep number instead of stopping at division.

Is this calculator free? Do I need to sign up?

Yes, it's free and runs right on this page — no account, no email, no card. It uses an illustrative cost profile, stated under the form. When you want it on your own numbers, a 14-day solo trial starts with your first successful full check — still no card.

How is this different from a cost-per-mile spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet averages your whole year — useful once a quarter, silent at 9 pm when a broker wants an answer. This check prices one load: modeled expenses, estimated earnings, and whether it meets the chosen minimum on stated occupied working days. Any negotiating ask stays separate and optional.

Where do the fuel price and market numbers come from?

This quick check uses fixed illustrative assumptions: $5.10/gal diesel, 7.5 MPG, and a $2.57/loaded-mile sample benchmark. They are not current national averages. Full checks use your truck profile and available fuel, route, toll and broker information.

What is a good rate per mile for a truck right now?

Rates change by equipment, lane and week. Compare a current lane quote with your own cost per mile, including deadhead and load-specific expenses. This page shows a fixed illustrative benchmark as context only; it does not use it as comparable lane evidence or publish live market rates.

How do I calculate rate per mile with deadhead included?

Divide the load's total pay by every mile the truck drives — loaded plus the empty miles to the pickup — not just the loaded miles the broker quotes. A $1,800 load for 800 loaded miles is $2.25 a loaded mile, but with 150 deadhead miles it's $1,800 ÷ 950 = $1.89 a mile the truck actually turns. Judging a load on loaded miles alone hides what deadhead does to the real number, which is why this calculator asks for it.

More free tools

Keep pricing your truck.

Know your floorCost per mile calculatorTurn your fixed bills, monthly miles, diesel price, and MPG into your all-in cost per mile — the floor every load is measured against.Open →Is it worth it?Load profit calculatorAnswer “is this load worth it?” — enter the offer and miles and see your estimated profit before you say yes.Open →Just starting outNew owner-operator cost guidePlan first-year costs before you buy a truck: authority fees, new-authority insurance, the gross-vs-net trap, and your cost per mile.Open →

Stop pricing loads on gut feel.

Backhaul runs this exact check with your truck, your bills, this week’s diesel, the real route with tolls, and the broker’s FMCSA record — then keeps the math from decision to delivery to getting paid.

Check a load freeSee a full sample check

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