Load profitability calculator
Enter what a load pays, its miles and your costs. See the profit, the true rate per mile and what it pays per hour.
Truck, insurance, maintenance, tires: everything but fuel.
LOAD PROFITABILITY
PROFIT ON THIS LOAD
$887
- Fuel (all miles)
- -$338
- Running costs
- -$275
- Tolls and other
- -$0
- True rate per mile (deadhead included)
- $2.73/mi
- Profit per mile
- $1.61/mi
- Profit per hour
- $74
Bar: fuel, running costs, tolls and other, then profit in amber. Profit per hour shows whether a short, slow load is worth the day.
This load makes $74 an hour. We weigh every load by what it pays for your time, as well as the miles.
Get loads worth the dayHow this truck load profit calculator works
- Total miles = loaded miles + deadhead miles.
- Fuel = total miles / mpg x diesel price.
- Running costs = total miles x your other cost per mile.
- Profit = pay - fuel - running costs - tolls - other costs.
- True rate per mile = pay / total miles. Profit per hour = profit / hours on the load.
EXAMPLE LOAD
Trucking load profit calculator: reading the result
A positive profit that is too small still has to pay you, your taxes and the slow weeks. Decide what profit per hour you need, then judge every load against it.
A negative profit means the load costs more to run than it pays. Counter it or pass. Being busy at a loss only wears out the truck.
Deadhead is where good-looking loads lose money. Compare the true rate per mile with the broker's loaded rate; the gap is what the empty miles cost you.
Set your running cost from the profit calculator, check a single fuel stop with the fill-up cost calculator, and see what wears on value in the depreciation chart. Running a reefer box? Our guide to reefer box truck loads covers what they pay for.
Our dispatchers check every load against your costs before it reaches you. See how our dispatch fees work.
Questions about this calculator
Q-01How do I know if a load is profitable?
Subtract everything the load costs you from what it pays: fuel for every mile including deadhead, your other running costs per mile, tolls and extras like lumpers. If what is left is positive and big enough for the hours the load takes, it is profitable. If it is negative, the load loses money however good the rate looks.
Q-02What is a true rate per mile?
What the load pays divided by every mile you drive for it, deadhead included. Brokers quote per loaded mile, which makes a load with a long deadhead look better than it is. The true rate per mile is the one to compare with your cost per mile.
Q-03Why look at profit per hour?
Because time is a limit as well as miles. A short load with long waits can look fine per mile and still pay little for the day. Profit per hour lets you compare a quick local load with a long run on equal terms.
Q-04What should running cost per mile include?
Everything except fuel that you pay to keep the truck on the road, spread over your miles: truck payment or lease, insurance, maintenance and tires, permits, phone and ELD, and a reserve for repairs. Our cost per mile calculator works it out from your monthly numbers.
Ryan, TruckSwing dispatch desk
UPDATED OCTOBER 2026 · EDITORIAL POLICY
Every load checked before it reaches you
We run this math on every load and counter the ones that come up short. You approve every one.