State cost guide · TX
Running in Texas.
Texas is the highest-volume freight state in the country and the one where deadhead discipline pays off most, because the distances between its major markets are long enough to swallow a thin rate.
Diesel & fuel tax
Our tools price Texas pickups from the EIA weekly on-highway diesel average for the Gulf Coast region, and print the week and region on the report.
Diesel is taxed per gallon by the state, and as an interstate carrier you settle it through your quarterly IFTA return rather than at the pump alone. Rates are republished every quarter, so use the current official IFTA rate table for the quarter you are filing instead of any figure quoted on a website.
Texas fuel stops are plentiful on I-10, I-20, I-35 and I-45, which usually means the pump price you can find is closer to the regional average than it is in thin-coverage states.
Tolls
Most Texas tolling is metropolitan rather than statewide: the tollways and managed lanes around Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and the SH 130 corridor.
Commercial toll rates are charged by axle count, so a toll that looks minor in a car is not minor in a truck. Price the toll into the load or route around it deliberately.
Operating cost
Texas registration, insurance and parking costs are your own numbers — put them in your cost per mile rather than using a state average.
The long hauls between Texas markets reward accurate MPG. A 600-mile leg magnifies a wrong fuel-economy figure far more than a 200-mile leg does.
Common lanes
- Dallas → HoustonShort, frequent, and heavily quoted; the rate per mile has to carry the fixed cost across few miles.
- Laredo → DallasCross-border volume feeds this lane; watch wait time at the pickup as a real cost.
- Houston → MemphisA common head-haul out of the Gulf; score the backhaul before you commit.
- El Paso → PhoenixLong desert running with limited reload density at the destination.
EIA region used for Texas pickups: Gulf Coast (PADD 3). Fuel prices in our tools are the EIA weekly on-highway diesel average at the moment you score a load, with the week printed on the report; anything you type yourself overrides it. Fuel-tax rates and toll schedules change — confirm the current quarter's official figures before relying on them.
Want the number for a specific load? X-Ray it free or build your own cost per mile with the free calculator.