Box truck business profit calculator: what a 26 ft truck really makes

By Edwin Horton · Updated October 2026

How the box truck profit calculator works

This is the shared unit P&L engine used across our calculators, set up for 26 ft box trucks: revenue comes from loads and rate per load rather than miles, and fuel from miles per week at box-truck fuel economy.

• Monthly revenue = loads per week × rate per load × 4.33 weeks
• Monthly fuel = miles per week × 4.33 ÷ mpg × diesel price
• Dispatch = revenue × your tier (5% for one truck, 4% per truck from two)
• Profit per truck = revenue − fuel − payment − insurance − driver pay − maintenance − other − dispatch
• Fleet profit = profit per truck × trucks

EXAMPLE A 26 ft box truck runs 6 loads a week at $780, about 1,900 miles a week at 10 mpg with diesel at $6.20. Payment $1,700, insurance $950, driver $4,600, maintenance $500, other $450, all monthly. Revenue: about $20,280 a month. Fuel: about $5,104. Dispatch at 5%: about $1,014. Profit: about $5,962 a month per truck, before income tax.

The roster at the top adds a tile for every truck you plan to run, so you can see the fleet total grow, or shrink if the numbers are thin.

Reading your box truck profit

Profit under about $1,000 a month per truck: one repair or a slow month erases it. Look at rate per load first: short local runs with many stops need stop pay, and liftgate work should pay more than dock-to-dock.

Strong profit with you driving: check that your own pay is in the driver line. If it isn't, the profit is your wage, and a second truck with a hired driver will earn much less.

Adding trucks: the second box truck lowers your dispatch fee to 4% on every unit, but it adds a payment, insurance and a driver to manage. Model it here, then compare with the trucking profit calculator and the small fleet cost per truck calculator.

Before you buy

A box truck business plan should show these monthly numbers for the first year; our truck business plan guide walks through it. Buying an existing operation instead? Read buying a trucking company first. When you're ready to run more than one truck, see how small fleet dispatch keeps each unit loaded without forcing loads on anyone.

One more check before you trust the result: run it again with loads per week cut by one. Box truck freight is often seasonal and customer-driven, and a single lost customer can take a load or two out of every week. If the truck still clears its costs at the lower number, the plan has a cushion. If it doesn't, the business depends on every load showing up, and that's worth knowing before you sign a lease.

Last, look at who pays you and how fast. Box truck freight often comes from local shippers, freight brokers and delivery networks with very different payment terms, and a profitable month can still leave you short if the money arrives 45 days later.

Numbers to pull before you trust it

• Use loads per week from a real month
• Include liftgate maintenance in maintenance
• Price your own driving time in driver pay