Dallas, TX to Los Angeles, CA Freight Rates

The Dallas, TX to Los Angeles, CA lane runs 1435 miles and currently averages $4,200 per truckload, or about $2.93 per mile. Typical transit is 2 days and lane demand is high.

What drives the rate on this lane

Rate per mile on shorter lanes runs higher because loading, unloading and detention time is spread over fewer miles. At 1435 miles, Dallas, TX to Los Angeles, CA prices as a long-haul run, and brokers price it against the high-demand market for this corridor.

Peak rates during Q4 holiday shipping season.

Cost breakdown on a single run

Work the numbers before you accept an offer. 1435 loaded miles at 6.5 mpg burns roughly 221 gallons of diesel — about $851 at $3.85 per gallon — which is 20% of the average $4,200 linehaul on this lane. Subtract that and you have about $3,349 left to cover maintenance reserve, tires, insurance, the truck payment, tolls, and the driver.

Deadhead is what quietly kills margin here. Every empty mile to the Dallas pickup is paid out of the same $4,200, so a 90-mile repositioning drive drops the effective rate per mile from $2.93 to about $2.75. Carriers who quote off total miles rather than loaded miles are the ones who stay profitable on high-demand corridors like this one.

Hours of service on this run

At a realistic 52 mph door-to-door average, the drive is about 27.6 hours. That exceeds the 11-hour driving limit, so plan a legal reset and a parking spot before the driver runs out of clock — the 2-day transit above already assumes one. Appointment windows matter as much as miles: a receiver that only unloads in a two-hour morning slot turns a legal 27.6-hour drive into a two-day commitment for the truck.

Equipment that moves on this lane

• Dry Van
• Reefer
• Flatbed

Backhaul options

LA to Dallas is one of the strongest backhaul lanes in the country.

Price this corridor as a round trip. A strong headhaul out of Dallas that leaves the truck sitting two days in Los Angeles nets less per week than a slightly cheaper load into a market that reloads daily. Take the combined revenue of both legs, divide by every mile the truck turns including deadhead, and compare that number — not the headhaul rate — against your break-even.

How to quote this lane profitably

Work backwards from cost per mile. Fuel, maintenance, insurance, and payment on the truck give you a break-even number; anything under it on a 1435-mile run loses money once you add deadhead to the pickup. Use the cost-per-mile and route-profit calculators to check a specific offer against your own numbers before you book it.

Frequently asked

What is the current truckload rate from Dallas, TX to Los Angeles, CA?

The lane averages $4,200 per truckload, about $2.93 per mile across 1435 miles. Spot offers typically land within 10-15% of that number depending on how much lead time the broker has and whether the pickup is a live load or a drop.

How long does the Dallas, TX to Los Angeles, CA run take?

Roughly 27.6 hours of drive time at a 52 mph average, which works out to 2 transit days once you account for hours-of-service breaks, fueling, and appointment windows on both ends.

How much fuel does this lane burn?

At 6.5 mpg you burn about 221 gallons, roughly $851 at $3.85 per gallon. That leaves about $3,349 against the average linehaul before maintenance, insurance, tolls, and the truck payment.

What equipment moves best on this lane?

Dry Van, Reefer, Flatbed. Equipment choice moves the rate more than most carriers expect — specialized trailers on this corridor price above the dry van benchmark because the pool of available trucks is smaller.