Break-Even Rate Calculator

Why Solve for the Rate Instead of the Profit

When a broker or dispatcher quotes a rate, the useful question isn't "what would my profit be" after the fact, it's "is this even worth considering" before you commit to the load. A break-even rate answers that directly: it's the floor, the number below which you're paying to haul the freight rather than getting paid for it.

The Formula Behind This Calculator

Weekly fixed cost is your monthly truck payment, insurance, and other fixed expenses (permits, ELD, phone) added together and divided by 4.33 weeks per month. Weekly variable cost is your fuel and maintenance cost per mile multiplied by your weekly miles. Add fixed and variable together for total weekly cost.

If you run a dispatch fee, the gross revenue you need is higher than your raw cost, because the fee comes out of the top before you see the rest: break-even gross revenue equals total weekly cost divided by (1 minus the fee percentage). Divide that by your weekly miles and you get the break-even rate per mile. Adding a target weekly profit simply adds that amount to total weekly cost before running the same division.

A Worked Example

Say you run 2,200 miles a week, with $1,800 in monthly truck payment, $650 in insurance, and $300 in other fixed costs, for a monthly fixed total of $2,750, or about $635 a week. Fuel and maintenance together run $0.73 per mile, so variable cost on 2,200 miles comes to $1,606. Total weekly cost: $635 plus $1,606, or about $2,241.

With no dispatch fee, your break-even rate is $2,241 divided by 2,200 miles, about $1.02 per mile. Add a 6% dispatch fee and the math changes: break-even gross revenue becomes $2,241 divided by 0.94, or about $2,384, which works out to roughly $1.08 per mile, the rate you'd actually need to see offered to come out even once the fee is taken.

Where This Number Comes From, and Why It Moves

Every input in this calculator is a real cost you can pull from your own records: your truck payment, your insurance bill, your actual fuel spend per mile, and whatever fee percentage you're paying. As any of those change, truck payment, fuel prices, insurance renewal, your break-even rate moves with them, which is why it's worth rechecking the number at least monthly rather than working off a figure from six months ago.