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CPM pays the miles. You live the hours.
Cents-per-mile sounds simple until you divide by the hours you actually gave. This calculator converts CPM into weekly and annual gross, then divides by your real on-duty hours — driving, docks, fueling, inspections — to show the effective hourly rate, the only honest way to compare OTR pay to a local hourly job.
Drivers use it to compare carriers honestly: CPM × miles ÷ on-duty hours converts any offer into an hourly rate you can hold against a local job. It is also the number that settles the "is OTR worth it" argument at home.
Company OTR drivers commonly see 50–70¢ per mile depending on experience, freight type, and carrier; specialized and team driving runs higher. At 58¢ and 2,500 miles a week, that is $1,450/week or about $69,600 over 48 working weeks.
Because CPM only pays rolling miles. 2,500 miles in a 65-hour on-duty week is 38.5 effective mph — so 58¢/mile equals $22.31 per on-duty hour. Every unpaid dock delay, inspection, and traffic jam drags the hourly rate down. That is why detention pay and drop-pay matter more than a penny of CPM.
Convert each to per-on-duty-hour and compare. Percentage pay wins in strong rate markets and loses in weak ones; salary is predictable but caps upside. Owner-operators should run the truck's true cost per mile (fuel, maintenance, insurance, truck payment) before celebrating any linehaul rate.