A busy truck can still leave you broke
A truck can bring in $250,000 a year and still leave its owner with nothing. That is not bad luck. It is math most new owners never run before they buy a truck.
Here is the hard number. ATRI, a trucking research group, found it cost an average of $2.26 to run a truck one mile in 2024, and the average truckload carrier lost money that year. In 2025, the average cost rose to $2.336 per mile.
The trap is empty miles, what truckers call deadhead. You only get paid for miles with freight on the trailer, but you pay for fuel, tires, and the truck payment on every mile. This guide runs those numbers in plain English.
| Path | Cash to start | Who finds the freight | Biggest risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lease on with a carrier | Example range: $35,000 to $80,000 | The carrier, mostly | Deductions from your pay, weak miles |
| Own authority, used truck | Sample budget: $62,000 | You | Insurance, repairs, slow-paying brokers |
| Own authority, new truck | Sample budget: $97,000 | You | Big payment due every month, loaded or not |
| Power only, no trailer | $45,000 to $90,000 | Depends on the contract | Waiting on trailers and loads |
| Small fleet | $150,000 to $500,000+ | You, plus a dispatcher | Drivers, breakdowns, payroll |
Startup costs: how much cash you need
Here is one sample budget for starting with your own authority, the federal license that lets you haul freight as your own company, and a used truck. It comes to about $62,000.
The sample: $17,000 down on a $62,000 tractor and $25,000 trailer, $6,000 sales tax, $12,000 down on insurance, $4,000 for permits and filings, and $10,000 for a repair fund.
The last $13,000 splits in two: $8,000 of running cash for fuel and tolls, and $5,000 for your bills at home. Keep the home money in its own account. It is not the truck's money.
A new truck pushes the sample budget to about $97,000, mostly a bigger down payment and tax on a $195,000 tractor. Leasing on with a carrier might take $35,000 to $80,000. That is an example range, not a market quote.
These are sample numbers, not quotes. Get real quotes for the truck, insurance, and taxes in your state. And never budget off the dealer's monthly payment. The payment is the smallest part of what a truck costs to run.
How much can one truck make?
Big fleets publish their numbers, and they make a good reality check. One truck at a large carrier brings in roughly $215,000 to $240,000 a year in freight revenue. Your truck may earn more or less, depending on your freight and your lanes.
That money is not your pay. Out of it come fuel, insurance, the truck payment, repairs, tires, tolls, and permits. What is left splits two ways: your pay for driving, and the profit of the business itself.
Keep those two separate. An owner who takes home $90,000 mostly earned a driver's wage. If a hired driver would cost $80,000, the business itself only made $10,000. That difference decides whether a second truck will ever make sense.
One truck, one year: a worked example
Say your truck runs 100,000 miles in a year: 85,000 loaded, 15,000 empty. At $3.00 per loaded mile, the truck brings in 85,000 x $3.00 = $255,000.
Costs next. At ATRI's 2025 average of $2.336 per mile, 100,000 miles cost about $233,600. That average includes driver pay. For this example, call $80,000 of it your driver pay. That split is our assumption, not ATRI's.
The year then looks like this: $255,000 comes in, about $233,600 goes out, and $80,000 of the out is your driver pay. What is left, about $21,400, is business profit.
Do not spend that $21,400 like a paycheck. The business needs it for taxes, surprise repairs, saving toward the next truck, and paying down debt. Your steady pay is the driver wage.
This math also prices loads. At these numbers, this example truck needs about $2.75 per loaded mile to break even. Your truck's number will be different. Work out your own and check loads against it.
What Werner, Schneider, and Knight-Swift reveal
Three of the biggest carriers publish their numbers. Werner reported roughly $239,772 in yearly freight revenue per truck, and Schneider about $216,424. Knight-Swift runs thousands of trucks, so one breakdown barely touches it. One breakdown hits your whole business.
Use those numbers as a reality check, nothing more. They are not a cap on what your truck can earn and not a forecast. Those fleets haul different freight than you will, with cheaper fuel and steady contracts.
Your first 30, 60, and 90 days
Days 1 to 30: decide lease-on or own authority, and pick your freight type and running area. Call shippers and brokers and ask what your lanes actually pay. Get insurance quotes for your exact truck and driving record before you buy anything.
FMCSA's registration guide walks through what the government requires. FMCSA is the federal agency that regulates trucking.
Days 31 to 60: set up the business. Form the company, get your DOT number, and if you run your own authority, file the government paperwork. Each filing does one plain job.
BOC-3 names an agent who can receive legal papers for you in every state. UCR is a yearly road fee. IRP gets plates that work across state lines. IFTA settles fuel tax between states. Form 2290 is the yearly federal tax on heavy trucks.
Also get an ELD for your logs, the electronic logger the law requires, and join a drug and alcohol testing program.
Days 61 to 90: haul your first loads on the lanes you already priced. Invoice the same day you deliver, with signed proof of delivery. Your first goal is ten safe, on-time loads that each made money after all miles.
What kills a trucking business
Cheap freight. Taking $2.00-a-mile loads just to keep moving burns cash faster than parking the truck. If a load will not cover your cost per mile, sitting still loses less.
One big breakdown. A blown engine means a tow bill, a repair bill, a motel, no revenue, and the truck payment still due. This is why the repair fund is not optional. Put money away per mile, every single week.
Slow pay and no pay. Brokers pay in 30 to 45 days, and some never pay. Check a broker's payment history before you haul for them. Waiting at docks hurts too, so get detention pay, extra money for waiting, in writing and bill for it.
Paperwork shortcuts. Miss your logs, drug testing, or maintenance records and FMCSA can shut you down. New carriers get checked early. Run clean from day one.
Run every load by the numbers
Before you say yes to a load, write down the rate, all the miles including empty ones, fuel, tolls, and when the broker pays. Divide the total pay by the total miles.
Clearing your break-even number is the floor, not the green light. The load also has to pay for your time, waiting, parking, and the odds of a decent load back. If it barely clears, or the broker looks shaky, lean toward no.
After you deliver, write down what really happened: real miles, real fuel, time spent waiting, extra fees. Send the invoice with proof of delivery the same day. Follow up the day a broker goes late.
Once a week, look at five numbers: loaded miles versus empty miles, money in per mile, cost per mile, cash in the bank, and unpaid invoices.
When a load misses plan, write down why: bad quote, empty miles, fuel, waiting, a fee, or slow pay. If the same cause keeps repeating, fix that habit.
Financing: borrow for the truck last
Line up financing only after the numbers above work. Equipment financing can cover the tractor or trailer once you know your freight supports the payment. A business line of credit helps cover fuel while you wait on slow-paying brokers.
Factoring, sold as receivables financing, pays you most of an invoice right away for a fee. It fixes slow pay, not bad rates. No loan can save a truck hauling freight below its cost per mile.
Keep your repair fund separate from your down payment. If buying the truck takes every dollar you have, you cannot afford that truck yet.