TruckProfitBreak-Even Rate Calculator
Find the minimum rate you need to charge to avoid losing money on a load. Enter your miles, fuel details, and operating cost to see your break-even revenue and rate — plus the rate needed to hit a target profit margin.
Best for: owner-operators negotiating a rate before accepting a load, who want a hard floor below which they'd lose money.
Enter your trip costs
Leave blank to use a default assumption of $0.65/mile (covers truck payment, insurance, maintenance, tires, permits).
Tolls, lumper fees, permits, etc.
On top of break-even
How this calculator works
The calculator adds your loaded and deadhead miles together, estimates fuel cost from your fuel price and fuel efficiency, and multiplies total miles by your per-mile operating cost (everything besides fuel). Any other flat trip costs you enter are added on top. The sum is your total cost — the exact revenue at which profit would be zero. If you enter a desired profit margin, the calculator also solves for the higher revenue and rate needed to hit that margin on top of covering costs.
Worked example
A trip has 800 loaded miles and 100 deadhead miles — 900 total miles. Fuel is $4.00/gallon at 6.5 MPG, so fuel cost is about $554. At an operating cost of $0.65/mile, non-fuel operating cost is $585. Total cost is about $1,139, so break-even revenue is $1,139 — a break-even rate of about $1.42 per loaded mile. If you also want a 15% profit margin, the target revenue rises to about $1,340, or about $1.68 per loaded mile.
Break-even rate at different margin targets
Same $1,139 total cost and 800 loaded miles as the worked example above — only the desired margin changes:
| Desired margin | Target revenue | Rate per loaded mile |
|---|---|---|
| 0% (break-even) | $1,139 | $1.42/mile |
| 10% | $1,266 | $1.58/mile |
| 15% | $1,340 | $1.68/mile |
| 20% | $1,424 | $1.78/mile |
A higher margin target means a higher rate you'd need to negotiate — this table shows the trade-off, not a recommended margin for your business.
Understanding the inputs and outputs
- Break-even rate per loaded mile is the minimum rate to quote — charging less guarantees a loss on this trip.
- Other trip costs covers one-off costs like tolls, lumper fees, or permits that aren't part of your ongoing per-mile operating cost.
- Desired profit margin is optional — leave it blank to see the bare break-even numbers, or set a target to see what you'd actually need to quote to profit, not just avoid a loss.
Common mistakes
- Negotiating from a guess instead of a real break-even number.
- Forgetting deadhead miles when figuring out the true break-even rate for a round trip or repositioning move.
- Treating break-even as a target rather than a floor — break-even means zero profit, not a sustainable rate.
Limitations
This calculator uses one operating-cost-per-mile figure for the entire trip and only tracks extra one-off costs through the optional "other trip costs" field — it won't catch costs you don't enter, and it doesn't check against any broker or shipper's specific rate confirmation terms.
Frequently asked questions
- What does 'break-even rate' mean?
- It's the minimum rate you'd need to charge for a trip so that revenue exactly covers your fuel, operating cost, and any other trip costs, leaving zero profit. Charging below this rate means losing money on the trip.
- Why does this calculator ask for costs instead of revenue?
- This calculator solves the opposite question from the Load Profit Calculator. Instead of taking a known revenue and finding profit, it takes your known costs and solves for the minimum revenue and rate you need to charge before you negotiate.
- What is the desired profit margin field for?
- Break-even alone gets you to zero profit. If you enter a target profit margin, the calculator also shows the higher rate needed to hit that margin on top of covering your costs — useful as a negotiating target rather than just a floor.
- Should I use loaded-mile rate or total-mile rate when negotiating?
- Rate per loaded mile is what's typically quoted and negotiated with a broker or shipper. Rate per total mile (including deadhead) is a more honest measure of what you actually earn per mile driven — both are shown so you can use whichever your negotiation calls for.
This calculates break-even for one specific trip. For a standing rate floor you can check any offer against without recalculating each time, see How to Calculate Your Owner-Operator Break-Even Rate.
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