What counts as a good profit per mile?
There's no single magic number — it rides on your costs. Once fuel, maintenance, insurance, the payment, and your own pay are covered, many owner-operators want to clear at least $0.30–$0.50 per mile in net profit on a load before it's worth the trip. The honest baseline is your own cost per mile: anything above it makes money, anything below loses it. This calculator works that out for you — enter your real monthly costs and miles, and it spreads them across the trip automatically. For the full breakdown of fixed and variable costs, see our guide to calculating true cost per mile or the cost per mile calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate if a load is profitable?
Take what the load pays and subtract every cost to haul it: fuel for the total miles (loaded plus deadhead), plus your running costs — maintenance, insurance, the truck payment, and your own pay — spread across the miles you run each month. If what's left is positive, the load profits.
What is a good profit per mile on a load?
It depends on your costs, but many owner-operators look for at least $0.30 to $0.50 per mile in net profit after fuel, running costs, and their own pay. Your own cost per mile is the real baseline — anything above it makes money.
Should I include deadhead miles?
Yes. The empty miles to reach the pickup still burn fuel and wear the truck, and no one pays for them. Leaving deadhead out makes a load look better than it is — that's how thin freight gets booked.
What rate per mile do I need to break even?
At minimum your all-in cost per mile, including fuel and your pay. Find that number with our cost per mile calculator, then only book loads whose all-in rate clears it with margin to spare.
Check every load automatically
Trucker Budget tracks income and expenses against each load and shows your real profit per mile after fuel and costs — so a losing lane shows up before you book it, not at tax time.
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