The free load profitability calculator for truck drivers and owner-operators. Enter your load details and instantly see your net profit, fuel costs, and revenue per mile.
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Enter load details to instantly see if a haul is worth taking.
Calculating whether a truck load is profitable starts with knowing three key numbers: the offered rate, your total miles (including deadhead), and your operating costs. Divide the offered rate by total miles to get your revenue per mile — a critical metric for every owner-operator. Then subtract fuel costs and other operating expenses to find your true net profit.
Many drivers make the mistake of only calculating revenue per loaded mile, ignoring the empty miles driven to reach the pickup. A load paying $2.50 per loaded mile sounds great, but if you drove 200 deadhead miles to get there, your real RPM could be under $2.00. Haulalytics calculates both figures instantly.
Revenue per mile is the most important metric for trucking profitability. To stay profitable, most owner-operators need at least $2.00 per total mile after accounting for all miles driven. RPM above $2.50 is excellent; under $1.50 typically means you're losing money once you factor in wear-and-tear, insurance, and truck payments.
When evaluating any load on a load board, always do the RPM math before accepting. A high-paying load to a remote location might look good until you account for the deadhead miles to get there and back out to a freight corridor.
Diesel prices have an outsized impact on trucking profitability because fuel is typically 25–40% of total operating costs. At 6 MPG, every $0.10 increase in diesel price costs you about $1.67 per 100 miles. On a 1,000-mile run, a $0.50 per gallon spike can cost you $83 in unexpected fuel expense.
That's why real-time fuel price data matters. Haulalytics pulls current regional diesel averages so your calculations reflect today's prices, not last month's. When you're deciding between loads, accurate fuel cost estimates can be the difference between a profitable week and a break-even one.
Beyond fuel, owner-operators carry a range of fixed and variable costs: truck payment or depreciation ($0.15–$0.25/mile), insurance ($0.08–$0.15/mile), tires ($0.04–$0.08/mile), maintenance ($0.10–$0.18/mile), and permits and fees ($0.02–$0.05/mile). Combined, these typically add up to $0.40–$0.70 per mile depending on equipment age and coverage level.
Enter your actual operating cost per mile in the calculator to get a true net profit figure. Using the industry average as a starting point is fine, but tracking your own expenses for 90 days will give you a personalized number that makes every future calculation more accurate.
Not every load is worth taking, and knowing when to say no is as important as knowing when to say yes. A load is generally worth accepting if: (1) RPM total is above your personal minimum, (2) net after fuel is positive, (3) the delivery lane leads to good outbound freight, and (4) the rate aligns with current market conditions.
Loads worth rejecting typically share these traits: RPM under $1.50, high deadhead to a freight desert, tight delivery windows that force expensive fuel stops, or rates that don't account for accessorial requirements. Use the comparison tool to pit two loads head-to-head and let the numbers make the decision.
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Everything you need to know about calculating load profitability.
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