Trucking Rate Calculator: Should I Take This Load?

Put in what a mile costs you and the load's miles, including the empty ones to the pickup. You get the minimum price for your target margin, and if you enter the broker's offer, your profit on it, whether it meets your target, and a counter-offer if it does not. Fill in up to three loads to compare them by profit per mile and per hour, not just by the size of the check.

These are example numbers. Change any of them and the answer updates as you go.

Include fuel surcharge and detention. Clear the box to see just the minimum to ask.
Not sure? The cost per mile calculator works yours out and sends it here.
True margin: a share of the price, not a markup on cost.

The fee is a percent of the offer. Trip costs cover tolls, parking, lumper and scale tickets. Hours add profit per hour.

Your own pay, if your cost per mile leaves it out
Only if your cost per mile leaves you out. Entering it in both places counts you twice.
Compare with other loads

Fill in a second or third load and the result ranks them on profit per hour (add hours to each) or on total profit.

Load 2

Load 3

Data reviewed: October 2026. Figures here come from published sources and change over time. How we verify

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Should I take this load?

A load board shows you the gross and the rate per loaded mile. Neither one answers the question you actually have, which is whether this particular run leaves money behind after your truck has been paid for. That depends on three things the board does not know: what a mile costs you, how far you drive empty to reach the pickup, and how much you want left over. Put those in once and every offer becomes a yes, a no, or a number to counter with.

The cost per mile here is your number, not an industry figure. ATRI's 2025 average is $2.336 a mile including driver pay, but it leans toward large fleets, and an owner-operator with a truck payment can sit well above or below it. If you have not worked yours out, the cost per mile calculator does it in a minute and hands the result straight to this page.

How to calculate a profitable load rate

Trip cost = (loaded miles + empty miles) × cost per mile + tolls
Minimum price = trip cost ÷ (1 − fee − target margin)
Profit = offer − fee − trip cost     Margin = profit ÷ offer

Cost per mile multiplies every mile you drive, paid or not, which is why the empty miles belong in the trip cost. The fee and the margin are both shares of the price, so they come off the top together; with no fee, the minimum price is simply the trip cost divided by one minus the margin.

A 600-mile load with 100 miles of deadhead

Cost per mile $1.85, target margin 10%, no fee. The load pays for 600 loaded miles, and the pickup is 100 miles away.

You drive 700 miles, so the run costs 700 × $1.85 = $1,295. That is the break-even price. The minimum for a 10% margin is $1,295 ÷ 0.90 = $1,438.89, which is $2.40 per loaded mile.

The broker offers $1,600. Profit is $1,600 − $1,295 = $305, a 19.1% margin, comfortably past the target. Had the offer been $1,350, the profit would be $55 (4.1%), and the counter-offer the calculator suggests is $1,450: the $1,438.89 minimum rounded up to the next $25, or $2.42 a loaded mile.

Now add a second offer: $2,400 for 1,050 loaded miles, 150 empty, $85 of tolls, about 22 hours against the first load's 12. It is the bigger check, but it costs $2,305 to run, leaving $95, or $4.32 an hour against the first load's $25.42. Cut the first load's deadhead in half and its minimum falls to $1,336.11, which is $102.78 less: empty miles are the cheapest place to find money.

Why 10% on top of your cost is not a 10% margin

Margin is profit as a share of the price; markup is profit as a share of the cost. Add 10% to the $1,295 run above and you quote $1,424.50, which earns $129.50, a 9.1% margin. To keep 10 cents of every dollar the load pays, you divide by 0.90 instead of multiplying by 1.10. The gap is small at 10% and grows fast: a 25% markup is only a 20% margin. The markup vs margin calculator works through the conversion for any number.

A percentage fee widens the same gap, because it is taken from the gross, margin included. With an 8% dispatch fee, the naive move is to price the load as if there were no fee and then add 8%. But the dispatcher takes 8% of that bigger number, so some of your margin goes with it. The page solves for the fee directly: price = cost ÷ (1 − fee − margin), which leaves exactly your target after the fee is paid.

Deadhead: which empty miles belong to which load

Count the empty miles to the pickup against the load you are pricing, since you would not drive them otherwise. The empty miles after delivery belong to the next load's deadhead, so counting them here as well charges the same miles twice. The exception is a lane that strands you: if the only sensible move after delivery is driving home empty, add those miles here, and do not count them again later.

Deadhead also explains why rate per loaded mile can mislead. Two loads at $2.60 a loaded mile are not equal if one starts 20 miles away and the other 200. The comparison table shows profit per mile actually driven, and per hour when you add hours, because those are the numbers your week is made of.

When no offer clears the bar

In a soft freight market, it is common for nothing on the board to meet a sensible margin. ATRI reported truckload operating margins below 1 percent in 2025. A load that covers its costs but misses the target can still be the right call, for example when it positions you for a better lane or keeps you from sitting empty. The page does not tell you what to do; it tells you what each choice costs, so a below-target load is a decision you make on purpose rather than one you discover later on a settlement statement.

Sources

Where the numbers on this page come from. We go to the body that publishes the figure, not to another calculator. Figures on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. See how we verify.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if a load is worth taking?

Price the miles you will actually drive, not just the miles you are paid for: add the deadhead to the pickup to the loaded miles, multiply by your cost per mile, and add tolls and trip costs. If the offer, after any dispatch or factoring fee, beats that number by your target margin, it meets your target. This page does that arithmetic and tells you which of three outcomes you are in: meets your target, covers costs but falls short, or below break-even.

How do I calculate the minimum rate for a load?

Divide the trip cost by one minus your target margin. A run that costs $1,295 needs $1,295 divided by 0.90, or $1,438.89, to make a 10% margin. If a percentage fee comes off the gross, subtract it in the same step: with an 8% fee the divisor becomes 1 minus 0.08 minus 0.10, or 0.82.

What is the difference between profit margin and markup on a load?

Margin is profit as a share of what the load pays; markup is profit as a share of what it costs. Adding 10% to a $1,295 cost gives $1,424.50, which is only a 9.1% margin. To keep a true 10% you divide by 0.90 instead, which gives $1,438.89. The difference is small at 10% and grows quickly at higher targets.

Should I count deadhead miles when pricing a load?

Count the empty miles to the pickup, because you drive them only to get this load. Leave the empty miles after delivery for the next load, or you charge the same miles twice. The exception is a lane that leaves you with no realistic next load, where the drive home empty belongs to this one.

How do I compare two load offers?

Look at profit, then profit per hour, rather than the size of the check. A long load that pays more in total can leave less behind once its miles and tolls are counted, and less still per hour of your week. Enter up to three loads with their hours and the page ranks them on profit per hour, and says so when a different load wins on total profit.

What should I say to counter a broker's offer?

Lead with the number and the miles, briefly. When an offer falls short of your target, the page suggests your minimum rounded up to the next $25 and a sentence you can use, such as asking whether they can do $1,450, which is $2.42 a loaded mile for that run. A no is still useful information about what the lane pays this week.

Where does my own pay go?

In one place only. If the cost per mile you enter already includes a driver wage, leave the pay box blank and the profit is the business's. If your cost per mile covers only the truck, either add your pay per mile in the second box or read the profit as your paycheck plus whatever the business keeps. Entering it in both places counts you twice and makes good loads look bad.

Does a shared link reveal my costs?

A shared link carries the numbers in the form, including your cost per mile, so anyone who opens it sees them. Nothing is stored on our side or sent anywhere else. If you want to share a result without your costs, share a screenshot of the headline instead of the link.

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