Free trucking money tool

Owner-Operator Break-Even Calculator

Put in your miles, fuel, fixed bills and reserves. The calculator shows the weekly gross the truck has to cover before the week is worth running.

Use calculator

Quick check: Count every mile for costs. Check loaded RPM after deadhead is already in the math.

Your week

Defaults are a sample, not a quote. Replace them with your own truck, fuel-card and insurance numbers.

Work pattern

Loaded miles / week Empty miles / week Working days / week Owner pay target / week Tax / savings reserve / week

Fuel and variable costs

Diesel price / gallon MPG Maintenance reserve / mile Tires reserve / mile Truck replacement reserve / mile Tolls, scales, wash / week Other variable / mile Factoring / quick-pay fee % Dispatch / lease fee %

Diesel default uses the EIA U.S. retail on-highway diesel average for the week of May 25, 2026. If you are leased on and already enter settlement gross to the truck, leave dispatch / lease fee at 0.

Monthly fixed costs

Truck payment Trailer payment Insurance Permits, plates, 2290 ELD, phone, software Parking Accounting, admin Load boards / subscriptions

Ugly-week stress test

Extra deadhead miles Missed revenue / wait time Extra repair or tire hit Fuel price shock / gallon

Break-even result

Calculated from your current inputs.

Weekly gross target with owner pay + reserves $0

All-mile RPM needed $0.00

Loaded RPM needed $0.00

Gross / working day $0

All miles	0
Empty mile share	0%
Weekly fixed cost	$0
Fuel cost / mile	$0.00
Variable cost / mile	$0.00
Tax / savings reserve	$0
Quick-pay / factoring fee	$0
Dispatch / lease fee	$0
Truck costs before owner pay	$0

Ugly week

Add deadhead, missed revenue and repair surprises to see how much cushion the week needs.

Ugly-week gross target $0

Plain-English read

Enter your numbers to see what the truck has to cover.

Read the target

This is the minimum weekly gross for the numbers you entered. If a week lands below it, the truck may still be busy, but the money is short.

Count all miles

Deadhead still uses fuel, tires, maintenance and hours. A good loaded rate can shrink fast when the next pickup is far away.

Keep a weekly note

Save actual gross, all miles, fuel, repairs and downtime. After a few weeks, you can see whether the problem is rates, deadhead, fuel, waiting time or fixed cost.

Sanity-check the defaults

Fuel changes every week. The diesel default is based on the EIA weekly retail on-highway diesel price, released May 27, 2026 for the week of May 25, 2026. For comparison, ATRI's 2025 Operational Costs of Trucking update reports 2024 average motor-carrier operating cost at $2.260 per mile. New authority, leased-on work, paid-off equipment and regional lanes can all move the number.

Data Decisions Lab

Need this by truck, lane or customer?

I build trucking profit reports from load records, ELD or fleet tracking data, fuel cards, rate cons, BOLs, invoices and accounting files.

See report examples