Between August and October 2026, our research team built a weighted model of trucking company operating costs by calculating every per-mile figure against ATRI’s 2025 average of 85,991 miles per truck. We then repriced fuel at 2026 year-to-date diesel prices to capture the trend reshaping carrier budgets this year.
The result is a benchmark of $2.336 per mile in 2025, rising to an estimated $2.51 per mile in 2026, or roughly $216,000 per truck per year.
Trucking Company Operating Costs by Driver & Labor Expenses
Driver compensation is the single largest line item in a trucking company’s budget. The table below breaks down wages and benefits per mile and annualized per truck.
| Labor Cost Item | Cost per Mile (2025) | Est. Annual Cost per Truck | Change vs. 2024 | What Drives the Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driver wages | $0.818 | $70,341 | +2.5% | Soft freight demand kept raises below the 2.7% inflation rate for a second straight year |
| Driver benefits | $0.210 | $18,058 | +6.6% | Health coverage is near universal, and 401(k) access runs 74% at fleets of 100 or fewer trucks vs. 96% at larger fleets |
| Total driver compensation | $1.028 | $88,399 | +3.3% | First year above $1.00 per mile in ATRI’s data, equal to 44% of total operating cost |
| Northeast driver compensation | $1.100 | $94,590 | Highest region | Dense freight corridors and higher living costs raise wage floors |
| Midwest driver compensation | $0.934 | $80,316 | Lowest region | Lower living costs and a deeper regional driver pool |
Pay also varies sharply by segment and fleet type, as depicted below.
| Labor Benchmark | 2025 to 2026 Value | What Drives the Number |
|---|---|---|
| BLS median heavy and tractor-trailer driver pay (May 2025) | $58,640 per year, up 2.1% | Covers all heavy truck drivers, local and long-haul |
| Specialized fleet wages, 101 to 250 trucks | $0.953 per mile | Flatbed, tank, and heavy-haul freight require more skill and endorsements |
| Truckload fleet wages, 101 to 250 trucks | $0.725 per mile | Commodity dry van freight with a larger available driver pool |
| Specialized benefits, 101 to 250 trucks vs. under 26 trucks | $0.226 vs. $0.135 per mile | Mid-size specialized carriers use richer benefit packages to retain skilled drivers |
| Private fleet driver pay (NPTC 2026) | $92,000+ per year | Predictable schedules and the highest base pay in trucking |
| Industry-average driver turnover | 44.2%, down from 48.0% | Fewer open jobs in a soft market kept drivers in place |
| Driver turnover, fleets under 26 trucks vs. truckload fleets over 1,000 trucks | 32.0% vs. 70.7% | Large fleets hire at volume and lose drivers to competitors faster |
| Cost to replace one driver (private fleets) | $12,313 | Recruiting, onboarding, and lost productivity |
Benefits, not paychecks, are where labor costs are climbing fastest. Benefit costs have outpaced wage growth for two straight years, and the trend held into early 2026 with benefits up another 4.5% in the first quarter while wage growth slowed to 1.6%. Each one-cent change in driver pay moves annual cost by about $860 per truck, so the 22.8-cent premium specialized carriers pay over truckload carriers adds up to roughly $19,600 per truck each year.
Trucking Company Operating Costs by Vehicle & Equipment Expenses
Fuel and equipment form the second-largest cost block for any carrier. The table below shows each equipment line item per mile and per truck, including our 2026 fuel estimate recalculated at year-to-date diesel prices.
| Equipment Cost Item | Cost per Mile | Est. Annual Cost per Truck | Change | What Drives the Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuel (2025 actual) | $0.482 | $41,448 | +0.2% vs. 2024 | Diesel averaged $3.66 per gallon in 2025, its steadiest year since the pandemic, and fleets averaged 7.43 mpg |
| Fuel (2026 year-to-date, our estimate) | $0.660 | $56,736 | +36.9% vs. 2025 | Diesel averaged $5.01 through September 28, 2026, and set a record of $6.529 the week of September 21 |
| Truck payments | $0.280 | $24,077 | New category in 2025 | Highest in the West at $0.32 per mile, lowest in the Southeast at $0.27 |
| Trailer payments | $0.120 | $10,319 | New category in 2025 | Highest in the West at $0.13 per mile, lowest in the South-Central U.S. at $0.11 |
| Total truck and trailer payments | $0.404 | $34,740 | +3.6% vs. 2024 | Record high; truckload fleets over 1,000 trucks raised equipment spending 16.1% |
| Repair and maintenance | $0.215 | $18,488 | +8.6% vs. 2024 | Average truck age rose to 3.6 years, and tariffs lifted parts costs |
| Tires | $0.050 | $4,300 | +6.4% vs. 2024 | Tariffs on natural rubber and petroleum-linked synthetic rubber |
| Tolls | $0.043 | $3,698 | +13.2% vs. 2024 | Fastest-rising line item; Northeast tolls average $0.079 per mile |
The market for the equipment itself sets the ceiling on those payment lines.
| Equipment Market Benchmark | 2026 Value | What Drives the Number |
|---|---|---|
| New Class 8 sleeper tractor | $160,000 to $200,000 | Tariff surcharges, plus $8,000 to $12,000 expected from EPA 2027 emissions rules |
| 12% federal excise tax on a new tractor | $19,200 to $24,000 | Charged on the retail price at first sale |
| Average used Class 8 retail price (August 2026) | $64,367, up 11% year over year | Fewer trade-ins reaching dealers as new truck sales slow |
| Private fleet trade cycle (NPTC) | 568,000 miles | Earlier replacement to hold down maintenance and downtime |
Fuel has flipped from the steadiest cost in 2025 to the most volatile in 2026. Repricing ATRI’s fuel line at this year’s average diesel price adds about $15,300 per truck, which alone lifts total operating cost from $2.336 to roughly $2.51 per mile, a 7.6% increase before any other line item moves. Maintenance is the slower-building risk, since fleets that delayed truck purchases to protect cash are now paying for it in older equipment and higher shop bills.
Trucking Company Operating Costs by Freight Volume and Fleet Scale
Fleet size and annual mileage decide how efficiently a carrier spreads its costs. The first table compares small and large fleets directly, and the second shows how cost per mile shifts with miles driven.
| Cost Metric | Small Fleets | Large Fleets (1,000+ Trucks) | Gap | What Drives the Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truckload repair and maintenance per mile | $0.275 (under 5 trucks) | $0.169 | Small fleets pay 63% more | Older trucks and only 42% of maintenance done in-house |
| Truckload fuel per mile | $0.530 (under 5 trucks) | $0.442 | Small fleets pay 20% more | No bulk fuel pricing and less efficient equipment |
| Driver wages | Lowest of all size groups (under 26 trucks) | Highest of all size groups | About 4.5 cents per mile between 26-truck and 1,000-truck fleets | Large fleets compete for drivers on pay |
| Driver turnover | 32.0% (under 26 trucks) | 70.7% (truckload) | 2.2x higher at large fleets | Volume hiring and weaker driver-dispatcher relationships |
| 401(k) offered | 74% (100 or fewer trucks) | 96% (over 100 trucks) | 22 points | Benefit administration costs favor scale |
| Truck and trailer spending, 2025 vs. 2024 | Decreased | +16.1% (truckload) | Opposite directions | Small fleets preserved cash; large fleets renewed equipment |
Our team then modeled cost per mile at different utilization levels, holding variable costs at ATRI averages and spreading fixed costs across each mileage level.
| Annual Miles per Truck | Fixed Cost per Mile | Total Cost per Mile | Required Rate per Loaded Mile (16.5% Deadhead) | vs. Industry Average | What It Means |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60,000 | $0.742 | $2.560 | $3.07 | +9.6% | Typical of local work, long dwell times, or a truck without a steady driver |
| 70,000 | $0.636 | $2.454 | $2.94 | +5.1% | Regional operations with frequent stops |
| 85,991 (ATRI average) | $0.518 | $2.336 | $2.80 | Baseline | National average utilization in 2025, up 4% from 2024 |
| 100,000 | $0.445 | $2.263 | $2.71 | -3.1% | Strong solo long-haul utilization |
| 120,000 | $0.371 | $2.189 | $2.62 | -6.3% | Team-driver or high-utilization dedicated lanes |
Scale protects margin in two ways: purchasing power on fuel and parts, and the ability to keep trucks moving. A truck that runs 60,000 miles a year carries nearly 10% more cost per mile than one at the national average, because the same fixed payments and insurance land on fewer miles. That math explains why carriers cut truck counts 2.4% in 2025 and left another 10% of their trucks unseated, a combined 5.5% reduction in active capacity, rather than run equipment underused.
Trucking Company Operating Costs by Carrier Authority Type
How an operation is authorized and structured determines which costs it carries directly. The first table compares cost per mile by operating model, and the second tracks operating margins by for-hire sector.
| Operating Model | Avg. Cost per Mile | Revenue Benchmark | What Shapes the Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private fleet (shipper-owned) | $3.81 | Not rate-based; drivers average $92,000+ per year | Fewer miles per truck (80,400), short trade cycles, and the highest driver pay in trucking |
| For-hire carrier, all sectors (ATRI) | $2.336 | Varies by sector (see margins below) | Full cost stack, including company driver wages and benefits |
| For-hire truckload carrier (ATRI) | $2.21 | 0.4% average operating margin | Dry van rate competition and spot market exposure |
| Small fleet owner (OOIDA) | $2.58 | Depends on driver utilization | Driver payroll layered on owner-level equipment and insurance costs |
| Owner-operator, own authority (OOIDA) | $2.11 | $2.45 per mile average rate (2024) | Carries its own primary liability, cargo coverage, authority filings, plates, and factoring fees |
| Owner-operator, leased to a carrier (OOIDA) | $1.81 | $2.08 per mile paid by carriers to contracted owner-operators (2025) | Carrier typically supplies authority, primary liability, and plates; operator pays fuel, truck, and maintenance |
*OOIDA cost figures are member-reported break-even rates from the 2023 Freight Rate Survey, the most recent split by authority type. OOIDA’s 2024 survey put the overall owner-operator average at $2.00 per mile, down 4% from the prior year.
Owning authority raises an owner-operator’s break-even by about 30 cents per mile compared with leasing on, but it unlocks direct broker rates and keeps the full load revenue. Sector matters as much as structure: an LTL carrier kept 11.6 cents of every revenue dollar in 2025, while a flatbed carrier lost half a cent. Private fleets run the highest cost per mile in the industry by design, trading per-mile efficiency for control over service and delivery windows.
Trucking Company Operating Costs: Fixed Overhead, Insurance, & Compliance
Fixed overhead lands on a carrier’s books whether its trucks move or sit. The table below lists the major insurance, equipment financing, regulatory, and cash flow costs in 2026.
Insurance is the fixed cost to watch in 2026, since its 6.4% first-quarter jump was the fastest of any ATRI line item and adds roughly $580 per truck if it holds for the year. Federal registration fees are small by comparison, with authority, UCR, and HVUT costing a single-truck carrier under $900 in its first year. For carriers that rely on brokered freight and factoring, the larger overhead is the spread: a 14% broker margin plus a 2.8% factoring fee leaves the carrier with less than 84 cents of every dollar the shipper pays.
What Trucking Company Operating Costs Really Signify
Trucking company operating costs reached a record $2.336 per mile in 2025, and our 2026 model points to roughly $2.51 per mile once this year’s diesel prices are factored in, or about $216,000 per truck annually. Every ATRI line item except permits rose last year, with the steepest gains in tolls, maintenance, benefits, and tires rather than in driver paychecks or fuel. Scale and structure decide how hard those increases land: small truckload fleets pay 63% more for maintenance and 20% more for fuel than the largest carriers, and a truck running 60,000 miles a year carries nearly 10% more cost per mile than one at the national average. Margins stay thin across most sectors, with truckload carriers keeping less than half a cent of each revenue dollar, so the gap between cost and rate is now measured in pennies. With insurance and fuel both accelerating in 2026, carriers that benchmark their own numbers against these figures are best positioned to price freight that covers the full cost of every mile.
Contact Truck Writers to find where your trucking company operating costs can come down.
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