The industry-average cost to operate a truck in 2025 was $2.336 per mile, 3.4% higher than the previous year and the highest per-mile cost in the history of the Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking benchmarking report, produced by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). Excluding fuel, costs rose by 4.2% to $1.854 per mile.
Key takeaways:
· Costs were up in all major line-items in 2025, with the largest percentage gains in tolls (13.2%), repair and maintenance (8.6%), driver benefits (6.6%), and tires (6.4%). Only two line-items rose at sub-inflationary rates: fuel, and for the second year in a row, driver pay.
· Truck and trailer procurement costs varied by fleet size amid high prices and low freight volumes. 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 show a continuation of most 2025 cost trends.
· Carriers executed their largest reduction in freight capacity since the start of the freight recession in 2022, reducing truck counts by 2.4% and leaving another 10% of trucks unseated on average.
· Average truck age and annual mileage increased, deadhead mileage remained elevated, and non-driver staffing levels were cut by 7.8%.
· Operating margins in the truckload and refrigerated sectors improved slightly but were still below 1%, while tank carriers averaged 4%. Only LTLs and fleets with more than 1,000 trucks had healthy – but flat year-over-year – margins in 2025. Flatbed carriers, however, had an average operating loss of -0.5%.
