Rate per mile calculator for trucking loads

Two rates per mile, and why the second one matters more

When a broker posts a load, the rate per mile you see is almost always per loaded mile: the pay divided by the miles from pickup to delivery. It's a useful number for comparing postings on the same lane. But it leaves out the empty miles you drive to get to the pickup, and those miles cost you the same fuel and wear as loaded ones.

The all-in rate per mile divides the same pay by every mile the load makes you drive, loaded and empty. That's the number that tells you whether the load covers your costs. This rate per mile calculator shows both, side by side, so a posting that looks strong on paper can't hide a long deadhead.

How the rate per mile is calculated

Start with the total pay for the load: linehaul plus fuel surcharge plus any accessorials that are confirmed on the rate confirmation, such as an extra stop. Leave out detention you might earn, because it isn't guaranteed. Divide the total by the loaded miles for the loaded rate per mile. Divide it by loaded plus empty miles for the all-in rate.

The calculator also shows the linehaul alone per loaded mile, since some postings quote linehaul and fuel separately, and the share of the trip that's empty. If you've saved a floor in My Numbers, it compares the all-in rate with your floor and shows the gap in dollars for the trip.

• EXAMPLE

  EXAMPLE LOAD

  $1,800 linehaul plus $200 fuel

  800 loaded miles, 120 empty miles to the pickup. Total pay is $2,000. Linehaul alone is $2.25 per loaded mile, and all pay is $2.50 per loaded mile. Over all 920 miles, the all-in rate is about $2.17. With a floor of $2.20 all-in, this load comes up about $24 short, so it's a counter, not a take.

Reading your result

• +All-in at or above your floor. The load covers your costs and your margin. Check the broker and the details, then book it.
• +All-in a little under your floor. Counter. The empty miles are a fair reason to ask for more, and the calculator tells you how much short the load is.
• +All-in well under your floor. Pass, unless the load moves you into a much stronger market for the next one.
• +Empty share above about a fifth. Look at whether a closer load, or a better plan for the reload, would cut the empty miles.

If you don't have a floor yet, the trucking cost per mile calculator works out your costs and saves a floor to My Numbers. To see what the empty miles alone cost, use the deadhead miles cost calculator.

Using it as a trucking rates calculator for any equipment

The math works the same for a dry van, reefer, flatbed, power-only truck, hotshot or 26 ft box truck. What changes is what counts as a good number, because each type of equipment has different costs and different typical rates. A hotshot running lighter loads and longer empty miles needs a different floor than a reefer on a steady produce lane. For hotshot freight specifically, the hot shot rate calculator is built around those differences.

This isn't a freight shipping rates calculator for shippers. It doesn't predict what a load should pay. Rates move with the season, the lane and the balance of loads and trucks, so we don't quote market rates without a sourced, dated number. Our guides on rates per mile and truckload spot rates explain what moves them.

What a dispatcher does with this number

On our desk, every posting is run through this math before anyone calls the broker: all-in rate against the carrier's floor, empty miles counted, accessorials confirmed. Loads that fall short are countered or passed. Loads that clear are brought to the carrier, who approves each one, and the broker sends the rate confirmation straight to the carrier. See how we work with owner-operators.