Market averages: DAT national spot rates for September 2026, per loaded mile with fuel: dry van $3.01, reefer $3.62, flatbed $3.61. Lanes vary a lot.
How to use your number
The big number is the rate per loaded mile that pays all your costs, covers your empty miles and fees, and leaves you what you want to take home. Anything under it costs you money or your pay. Anything over it is margin.
When you look at a load, divide what it pays by the loaded miles plus the empty miles to get to the pickup. A $2,000 load that's 600 miles with 150 empty to pick up is $2.67 per total mile, not $3.33. That's the number that matters.
Where owner-operators lose money
- Chasing the big check. A 2,500 mile, $7,000 load looks better than a 1,000 mile, $4,000 load. Per mile it pays $2.80 against $4.00.
- Empty miles. Every 10% of your miles you run empty adds about 11% to the rate you need per loaded mile.
- Bad reloads. A great rate into a market with no freight out means a cheap load or a long deadhead to get out.
- Fine print. Late fees, tracking app rules and missed appointment charges on the rate con come straight off your margin.
- Detention you never claim. If the rate con pays detention and you don't log your in and out times, you're working for free.
Questions
What is a good cost per mile for an owner-operator?
It depends on your truck payment, insurance and how many miles you run. ATRI's 2025 study put the average marginal cost of running a truck at $2.336 per mile, driver pay included. If you run fewer miles, your fixed costs spread over fewer miles and your cost per mile goes up.
Why does the calculator ask for deadhead?
You pay for every empty mile but nobody pays you for it. If 12% of your miles are empty, every loaded mile has to carry the cost of the empty ones. That's why the rate you need per loaded mile is higher than your cost per mile.
Should I include my own pay?
Yes. Break-even means the truck pays for itself with nothing left for you. Put what you want to take home each week in the last box and the calculator shows the rate per loaded mile that gets you there.
How do dispatch and factoring fees change my rate?
Both come off the top of what the load pays. At 7% dispatch and 3% factoring, a $3.00 load puts $2.70 in your account, so the calculator grosses your rate up to cover them.
Want loads that beat your number?
Give us your minimum rate and we never book under it without asking you. We judge every load on rate per total mile, deadhead included, so the number above is the number we work to.