Gross revenue isn't pay. Enter your miles, your all-in rate, and your real costs to see what you actually keep — per year, per week, and per mile — after fuel, truck, insurance, maintenance, factoring, and self-employment tax. Built on ATRI's 2025 cost data and current 2026 diesel.
Where every revenue dollar goes (your inputs):
| Line | Per year | Per mile | % of gross |
|---|
Don't know your true cost per mile yet? Build it first with the cost-per-mile calculator, then come back. Defaults model a solo dry-van owner-operator at 100k miles; replace every field with your own numbers.
The number that gets quoted — "owner-operators gross $200,000 a year" — is the most misleading figure in trucking. Gross revenue is not pay. Out of that gross comes fuel (your single biggest variable cost), the truck and trailer payment, insurance, maintenance and tires, permits and tolls, a factoring fee if you use one, and then self-employment tax. What's left after all of it is your take-home — and for most solo owner-operators it lands between $55,000 and $80,000 on a six-figure gross. The calculator above shows your own version of that math instead of a generic average.
At a $4.67/gal national diesel average (EIA, mid-2026) and 6.5 MPG, fuel alone is about $0.72 per mile — roughly a third of a typical all-in rate before you've paid for anything else. ATRI's 2025 Operational Costs report puts the industry's marginal cost at $2.26 per mile, with non-fuel costs at a record $1.78 per mile. The difference for an owner-operator is that the line ATRI calls "driver wages" (about $0.80/mile) isn't a cost you pay out — it becomes your take-home. So your real pay is revenue minus everything except your own wage, then minus tax.
ATRI's An Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking: 2025 Update (2024 data) — per-mile averages. For an owner-operator, the driver-wage and benefits lines are what you're trying to keep, not pay out:
| Cost line | ATRI avg /mile | Owner-operator note |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel | $0.48* | *2024 data; ~$0.72/mi at 2026 diesel |
| Truck & trailer payment | $0.39 | Record high; biggest fixed cost |
| Repair & maintenance | ~$0.20 | Plus tires ~$0.04 |
| Truck insurance | ~$0.09 | Higher for new authority |
| Driver wages | ~$0.80 | = your take-home, not an expense |
| Driver benefits | ~$0.20 | You self-fund (health, time off) |
| All-in marginal cost | $2.26 | Non-fuel a record $1.78/mi |
Source: ATRI 2025 Update. Your own numbers beat any average — enter them above.
Take-home pay is driven by the numbers in these tools. Book only loads above your cost per mile and rate per mile, find your break-even rate, cut empty miles with the deadhead calculator, plan what to set aside with the quarterly tax calculator, and shrink the factoring cost that comes straight off your gross. If you're weighing a lease-to-own truck, check the payment first with the truck lease-purchase calculator — it's usually pricier than financing the same truck. And if you're deciding whether to run your own authority at all, compare both paths head-to-head with the owner-operator vs company driver calculator. And if a load or lease is quoted as a percentage of the freight instead of cents per mile, the percentage pay vs. per-mile pay calculator converts one into the other and shows which pays more — plus the load rate where percentage starts to win.
Most solo owner-operators gross $180k–$250k but take home $55k–$80k after fuel, truck, insurance, maintenance, factoring, and self-employment tax. At a 100,000-mile year and $2.50 all-in per mile, take-home lands near $72k — about $0.72 per mile, or roughly 29 cents of every revenue dollar. The calculator above replaces that average with your own numbers.
Because gross revenue isn't pay. Fuel alone is about $0.72/mile at $4.67 diesel and 6.5 MPG, and your truck payment, insurance, maintenance, tires, permits, and factoring fee all come out before you pay yourself. Then self-employment tax (15.3% of net) and income tax take another slice — what's left is your real take-home.
Yes — leased or independent owner-operators are self-employed, so you owe 15.3% self-employment tax (12.4% Social Security + 2.9% Medicare) on 92.35% of net profit, on top of income tax. Setting aside 20–30% of net is the safe rule; the per-diem deduction lowers it.
After all costs and taxes, $0.55–$0.75 of take-home per total mile is a realistic target for a solo owner-operator. Below about $0.40/mile you're working long weeks for company-driver money with all the owner-operator risk — the levers that move it most are lower deadhead, better fuel economy, and a cheaper truck payment.
The biggest levers are running fewer empty miles, better fuel economy, a cheaper truck payment, and only booking loads above your cost per mile. Shave deadhead with the deadhead calculator and pressure-test each load with the rate-per-mile calculator before you accept it.
Set aside 20–30% of your net profit (not gross) for self-employment tax plus federal income tax. A solo owner-operator netting ~$70k typically owes roughly $14k–$18k. Set it aside each settlement — the quarterly tax calculator shows the exact amount, and the per-diem deduction lowers it.
Grossly yes, but the take-home gap is small. Owner-operators gross $180k–$250k versus a company driver's ~$71k, yet after fuel, truck, insurance, maintenance, and self-employment tax the average owner-operator nets about $60k–$120k (ATBS put the 2025 average near $71,800). At low rates or high costs a company driver with benefits can keep more. Compare both sides directly with the owner-operator vs company driver calculator.
Take-home = gross revenue − operating costs − a tax set-aside, where the owner's own pay is treated as the residual rather than a cost. Cost benchmarks: ATRI Operational Costs of Trucking: 2025 Update (2024 data; $2.26/mi all-in, $1.78/mi non-fuel). Diesel default: U.S. EIA national on-highway average (~$4.67/gal, mid-2026). Self-employment tax 15.3% on 92.35% of net (IRS). Last updated July 2026. Estimates for planning only — confirm with your accountant. Built by TruckMargin.