Know Your Number — Cost-Per-Mile Calculator for Owner-Operators

Private by construction: every calculation happens on this page, on your device. Nothing you type is sent anywhere — there is no server holding your numbers, no account, and no sign-in.

The numbers pre-filled below are examples — typical figures used as placeholders, not a promise and not a survey. Replace every one with your own numbers. A calculator is only as honest as the numbers fed into it.

New companion page: a rate per mile is not a wage. The detention & load-pay calculator divides a load by the hours it really took — empty miles, running costs, and unpaid waiting included — and shows what detention should have added.

Your numbers

Results update as you type. $0 is allowed where it is true for you (a paid-off truck is a real thing).

Miles & driving

Miles driven per month

Deadhead (empty) share of miles Percent of your total miles run empty, e.g. 10 means 10%.

Fuel price per gallon ($)

Truck fuel economy (MPG)

Monthly fixed costs (owed whether you roll or sit)

Insurance ($/month)

Truck payment ($/month)

Trailer payment or rental ($/month)

Permits, plates, IFTA/IRP & fees ($/month)

Phone / ELD / subscriptions ($/month)

Costs that grow with the miles

Maintenance ($ per mile)

Tires ($ per mile)

Tolls & scales ($/month)

Target wage — the take-home you want, BEFORE income tax and self-employment tax ($/month, optional) Leave blank and only the first two numbers print. This goal is a pre-tax figure — the rate below holds back nothing for taxes unless you add a tax cushion in the next field.

Tax cushion (%) — optional Blank = off. At 20%, the rate aims high enough that after 20% is set aside for taxes, your take-home goal above is still met.

Should I take this load?

Compares one load against your cost per mile from above. It cannot see detention, fuel surcharges, or what the load does to the rest of your week — it only holds the load up against your own number.

Load pay ($, total to the truck)

Loaded miles

Deadhead miles (to the pickup + after delivery)

Your three numbers

Updates on every keystroke.

1 · Your cost per mile

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Fixed cost / mile—owed even when you sit

Variable cost / mile—fuel, wear, tolls — grows as you roll

2 · Break-even rate per loaded mile

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3 · Minimum rate that pays your target wage (before taxes)

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Enter a target wage on the left to see this number.

THE PRO PACK — $27, ONE TIME

Keep your numbers

This free page figures your cost per mile once. The Pro Pack keeps it: a monthly tracker spreadsheet (formulas built in) in these same categories, with your cost per mile figured for every month — plus a rate-history log: every rate you were offered next to what you actually took. The files are yours to keep. No subscription.

How this is calculated

Every formula, in plain English, so you can check it with a pencil. The pre-filled numbers are examples (assumptions) — the formulas are the real content.

Fuel cost per mile = fuel price per gallon ÷ MPG Fixed costs per month = insurance + truck payment + trailer payment + permits/plates/IFTA/IRP + phone/ELD Fixed cost per mile = fixed costs per month ÷ miles per month Variable cost per mile = fuel per mile + maintenance per mile + tires per mile + (tolls per month ÷ miles per month) Cost per mile = fixed cost per mile + variable cost per mile Loaded miles per month = miles per month × (1 − deadhead %) Break-even rate = (cost per mile × miles per month) ÷ loaded miles Tax cushion (if entered) = required wage = target wage ÷ (1 − cushion %). The target wage is a BEFORE-TAX figure; the cushion grosses it up so the goal survives tax. Minimum rate for wage = (monthly cost + required wage) ÷ loaded miles Each 1¢ under your rate = $0.01 × loaded miles per month, lost Load checker = load pay ÷ (loaded + deadhead miles), compared against your cost per mile

Why break-even is per loaded mile: loads are priced per loaded mile, but your costs run on every mile, empty ones included. The empties have to be paid for by the loaded miles — that is all the break-even number is doing.
What is not in these numbers: income tax (beyond any cushion you set in the tax-cushion field), major repairs beyond your maintenance figure, downtime, health insurance, and retirement. If you carry those, add them to the monthly fields so your number stays honest.
Tolls are spread over the month (monthly tolls ÷ monthly miles) because that is how most drivers track them; on a per-load basis they vary by lane.
Rounding: rates are shown to the cent. The verdict in the load checker counts anything within a tenth of a cent per mile of your number as exactly at your number.