Article Summary
Trucking industry-wide operating costs reached a record $2.336 per mile in 2025, up 3.4% from 2024, as carriers faced poor profitability with stagnant rates and rising costs.
- Non-fuel costs rose 4.2% to $1.854 per mile
- Carrier profitability remained poor, with truckload and refrigerated sectors averaging margins below 1.0%, while only LTL and large fleets exceeded 1.0% margins
- Fuel efficiency improved to 7.43 MPG in 2025 (up from 7.41 MPG in 2024), but carriers still reduced truck counts by 2.4% to manage costs
Operational costs for the trucking industry hit a record high in 2025, with the industry-average cost to operate a truck hitting $2.336 per mile, according to the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI).
The extent of cost inflation is certainly large, yet judging by recent analysis conducted by Overdrive's Partners in Business coproducer ATBS, revenues are keeping up. Profitability could be close to levels not seen since the COVID boom, depending on the operation.
In ATRI’s updated flagship benchmarking report, the 2026 Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking, the organization noted overall trucking costs increased by 3.4% in 2025 over 2024. Excluding fuel, costs rose by 4.2% to $1.854 per mile.
Trucking costs per mile were up nearly across the board in 2025 compared to 2024.ATRI
Small fleets with 25 trucks or fewer made up nearly a quarter of ATRI survey respondents, with the smallest of trucking companies (fewer than 5 trucks) accounting for 16% of all respondents.
Costs were up in all major line-items in 2025, ATRI noted, with the largest percentage gains in tolls, repair and maintenance, driver benefits, and tires. Only two line-items rose at sub-inflationary rates: fuel and, for the second year in a row, driver pay.ATRI
54% of ATRI sruvey respondents utilized single-truck, single-driver owner-operators in some capacity in 2025, whether as a core component of operations or to accommodate unique freight needs. In the truckload sector, a median of 1.8% of carriers’ drivers were owner-operators. In the specialized sectors, a median of 6.2% of carriers’ drivers were owner-ops.
Those percentages were essentially unchanged from 2024, but they were 1 to 2 percentage points lower than in 2023, reflecting the reduced need for capacity amid the freight recession, ATRI noted.
This table shows the average of fleets' owner-operator contract rates for each year compared with the average marginal cost for the truckload sector and the industry overall. As a result of the poor spot market in 2025, carrier-contracted owner-op rates slipped for a second year in a row to $2.08 per mile. Though this 2025 average rate was identical to that of the strong freight market in 2022, costs have risen considerably in the interim.ATRI
Truck and trailer procurement costs varied by fleet size amid high prices and low freight volumes during the year. Small fleets spent less on trucks and trailers in 2025 than in 2024, while truckload fleets with more than 1,000 trucks spent 16.1% more.
First-quarter 2026 data showed a continuation of most 2025 cost trends, though that only caught the very beginning of fuel prices’ big run-up starting in late February and March.
Faced with rising costs and stagnant rates in 2025, carriers executed the largest reduction in freight capacity since the start of the recessionary period in 2022 -- reducing truck counts by 2.4% and leaving another 10% of trucks unseated on average.
Other key metrics showed the impact of the prolonged downturn. Average truck age and annual mileage increased, deadhead mileage remained elevated, and non-driver staffing levels were cut by 7.8%.
Carriers squeezed out slightly better fuel mileage last year compared to the year before, averaging 7.43 MPG in 2025, up from 7.41 MPG in 2024 and 7.06 MPG in 2021.
Despite efforts to reduce costs, carrier profitability remained poor, ATRI said. Operating margins in the truckload and refrigerated sectors improved slightly but were still below 1.0%, while tank carriers averaged 4.0%. Only LTLs and fleets with more than 1,000 trucks had healthy -- but flat year-over-year -- margins in 2025, ATRI found. Flatbed carriers, however, had an average operating loss of -0.5%.
Looking at the first half of 2026, ATRI said economic conditions have “provided some areas for cautious optimism,” including the Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rising 2.1% in Q1 and rising freight rates. There are also mixed signals, however, with freight volumes falling, housing starts and completions falling from the end of 2025 through May of this year, among other factors.
The full report is available on ATRI’s website here. Participating carriers receive a customized report directly comparing their operations to an anonymized peer group of the same sector and size.
[Related: Overdrive's Load Profit Analyzer: Ways to assess rates, costs]
Is 2026 rates growth enough to offset record-high costs?
Overdrive’s Partners in Business co-producer ATBS also recently highlighted increased costs nearly across the board for trucking operations since the COVID pandemic -- insurance, maintenance, equipment payments, driver-related costs, and other non-fuel operating expenses are all materially higher, ATBS said.
Have rising rates offset those increased costs? During the COVID-era peak, average spot rates hit roughly $3.15 per mile, ATBS said. After neutralizing fuel's impact, that translated to about $2.81 per mile linehaul. Since then, however, non-fuel cost per mile is up 21%.
To maintain the same level of profit as the COVID peak today, carriers would need to bring in roughly $2.95/mile, ATBS added.
Average spot rates peaked at roughly $3.65 per mile in Q2, and after pulling out fuel costs, that translates to about $3.05 per mile linehaul, ATBS noted. For the first time since the COVID boom, the fuel-neutralized rate has crossed the cost-adjusted threshold.
That’s good news for carriers, particularly those with newer equipment, lower insurance costs, stronger customer relationships, and better network balance. Those carrying large equipment payments, high repair costs, or poor lane density may still feel pressure even as rates rise, ATBS noted.
[Related: Taking the industry temp at Walcott: Full 'Super Truck' results]
