Deadhead miles: what they cost you, and how to drive fewer of them
Steve Woods · Lead Dispatcher, TruckSprint
Steve Woods leads the TruckSprint dispatch desk and reviews every guide we publish. How we research and update guides.
Updated October 2026
Quick answer
Deadhead miles are miles driven empty, usually to the next pickup. They cost the same per mile as loaded miles but pay nothing, so they lower your real rate per mile. Deadhead percentage = empty miles / total miles x 100. Cut it by planning the next load before the current one delivers, searching near your drop, and judging loads by all-in rate, not loaded rate.
Deadhead is the quiet cost in every carrier's week. A broker's rate looks good per loaded mile; the truck's real pay is that rate spread over every mile it drove. I'm Steve, lead dispatcher at TruckSprint. Planning out empty miles is half of what a dispatch desk does, so here's how to see them and cut them.
The formula
Deadhead % = empty miles / (loaded miles + empty miles) x 100
All-in rate per mile = what the load pays / (loaded miles + empty miles to reach it)
ATRI's operating cost research for 2025 noted that deadhead mileage stayed high across the industry, one of the pressures on carrier margins. Your own number is the one that matters; track it weekly.
Source: ATRI, New Report Details Accelerating Costs and Low Profitability (July 2026) · checked 2026-10
What deadhead costs per week
| EXAMPLE week | |
|---|---|
| Loaded miles | 2,400 |
| Empty miles | 400 |
| Deadhead | 14.3% |
| Your cost per mile | $1.30 |
| Cost of the empty miles | $520 |
| Gross from loads | $5,500 |
| Loaded rate | $2.29/mi |
| All-in rate | $1.96/mi |
Those 400 empty miles cost $520 a week, about $26,000 over a 50-week year, and they pull the all-in rate 33 cents below the loaded rate. Cut deadhead by half and most of that comes back without a single rate increase. Your cost per mile comes from the cost per mile calculator.
Near load or far load?
The classic call: a cheap load close by, or a better-paying load a long empty run away. Count the deadhead at your cost per mile and compare what's left.
Near load or far load? EXAMPLE
Load A: close by
- Loaded rate
- $2.20/mi
- All-in rate
- $2.08/mi
- Left after costs
- $411
Load B: farther out, pays more
- Loaded rate
- $2.75/mi
- All-in rate
- $2.01/mi
- Left after costs
- $584
Load B leaves $173 more after costs. Then ask the other question: what does the next load out of each delivery area pay?
In the example, the far load pays $550 more for 290 more miles. At $1.30 a mile those extra miles cost $377, so the far load still leaves $173 more. Raise your cost per mile or the empty run and it flips: around $1.90 a mile the two come out even, and above that the close load wins, because every extra empty mile costs more than it earns. Then ask the second question: which delivery area has better freight coming out?
That second question is why dispatchers look two loads ahead. A load that wins on its own can still lose the week if it strands you somewhere with nothing to haul out.
When deadhead is the right call
- Repositioning into a strong market. Running empty out of a weak freight area into a busy one can pay off over the next several loads.
- Getting home on schedule. Home time has value; just price it honestly.
- Paid deadhead. Some loads pay for the empty run, especially power only, oversize and dedicated work. Ask for it when a load is far from your truck.
- A short empty run to a long, strong load often beats a nearby short load with a weak reload.
Eight ways to cut deadhead
- Book the next load before you deliver, ideally a day ahead.
- Search outbound from your delivery city, not from where you are now.
- Check the reload before you book the load. A great rate into a dead market costs you on the way out.
- Look for backhauls on lanes you run often; see backhaul.
- Build lanes and dedicated work where you can, so loads chain together.
- Widen the search radius on purpose, then judge each option by all-in rate.
- Use your hours wisely: a reset in a good freight market beats a reset in a bad one.
- Keep notes on which cities reload well for your equipment, and which brokers have freight out of them. After a few months, that list is worth more than any board filter.
Equipment changes the picture
Flatbed, step deck and oversize carriers often deadhead farther, because their loads are less frequent and more spread out. Reefers chase produce seasons. Dump trucks rarely run "deadhead" in the highway sense, but empty return trips from a drop site are the same cost: price per-load jobs with the empty return in mind. A 26 ft box truck doing local work counts empty miles between stops too.
Whatever you run, the habit is the same: count every mile, judge every load by its all-in rate, and plan two loads ahead. The load profitability calculator does the math on any single load.