Company driver vs owner-operator pay
Thinking about buying your own truck? This calculator shows your yearly take-home as a company driver next to your take-home as an owner-operator, after the real costs of running a truck. Enter your numbers below.
Pay comparison tool
How this calculator works
Your company-driver pay is simple: your weekly pay times 52 weeks. The owner-operator side starts with your gross revenue, which is your rate per mile times your weekly miles times 52 weeks. Then it subtracts the big costs: fuel, your truck payment, insurance, and a maintenance reserve of $0.15 per mile. Tires, brakes, and repairs are real, so setting money aside for them keeps the number honest.
One thing the calculator does not subtract is self-employment tax. As an owner-operator you are your own boss, so you pay both halves of Social Security and Medicare, around 15.3% on your net earnings. Plan for it. A company driver has those taxes taken out of their paycheck already.
Ready to run the numbers on a truck?
If the owner-operator math works for you, the next step is seeing whether you can finance the truck. Our free checker gives you an answer in about a minute.
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