# NEMT Trip Price Calculator (2027): What to Charge for a Private-Pay Ride

Canonical URL: https://nemtguide.com/tools/nemt-trip-price-calculator/ · Updated 2026-09-28

This calculator prices one NEMT ride from your own costs. Enter the trip miles and empty miles, the driver time including loading and waiting, what an hour of driver time and a mile of driving cost you, a share of overhead, and your profit margin. It divides the trip's cost by one minus the margin, so a $30 cost at a 20% margin prices at $37.50.

- Price each ride from what it costs you: driver time, vehicle miles, and a share of overhead.
- Count empty miles and waiting, because the driver and the vehicle are working either way.
- A 20% margin is not a 20% markup. Divide the cost by 0.8 instead of multiplying it by 1.2.
- Run the calculator once for each level of service, because wheelchair and stretcher rides take more time and crew.
- Medicaid and broker trips pay set rates. Set the margin to 0% to see what those trips cost you.

Use the calculator on the web page: https://nemtguide.com/tools/nemt-trip-price-calculator/

## What the trip price calculator does

The calculator prices one ride from the bottom up. You tell it what the trip takes, in miles and minutes, and what those cost you. It returns the price that covers every cost and still leaves the profit margin you picked.

Use it for rides where you set the rate: private-pay riders and families, assisted living communities, dialysis centers, hospitals sending patients home, and any other contract you negotiate. Medicaid and broker trips pay the rate in your contract or your state's fee schedule. For those, set the margin to 0% to see what the trip costs you, then compare that with what it pays.

One trip here is one ride from a pickup to a drop-off. A round trip is two trips, and each gets its own price.

## How to use the calculator

1. Enter the trip miles, from pickup to drop-off.
2. Enter the empty miles: the drive out to the pickup and back from the drop-off. If the van goes straight on to another ride, count only the drive out.
3. Enter the driver time in minutes, from leaving for the pickup to being free for the next ride. Include loading, securing a wheelchair, helping the rider to the door, and any waiting.
4. Enter your driver cost per hour and your vehicle cost per mile. The next section shows how to find both.
5. Enter your overhead per trip and the profit margin you want.
6. Read the price to charge at the top of the results. Under it are the profit, the cost of the trip, and the driver and vehicle costs that make it up.

The results change as you type. **Reset to example** puts the example numbers back, and **Show the formula** lists every step of the math.

## What each number means

| Box | What to enter | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Trip miles | Miles with the rider on board | Your mapping tool or last month's trip log |
| Empty miles | Deadhead miles with no rider | The drive from your base or last drop-off to the pickup, and back |
| Driver time | Minutes the ride ties up the driver | Pickup, loading, driving, waiting, and unloading |
| Driver cost per hour | Hourly pay plus payroll taxes and benefits | Your payroll reports |
| Vehicle cost per mile | Fuel, tires, and repairs for each mile | Several months of those bills divided by the miles driven |
| Overhead per trip | Insurance, loan payments, office, and phone | A month of those bills divided by that month's trips |
| Profit margin | The share of the price you keep | Your own target |

Empty miles are easy to forget. The glossary entry on [deadhead miles](https://nemtguide.com/glossary/deadhead-miles/) shows how they add up over a day of rides.

### Driver cost per hour

Start with the hourly wage. Add the employer's share of Social Security and Medicare: 6.2% plus 1.45%, or 7.65% of wages (IRS Topic 751, updated September 24, 2026). On an $18.00 wage, that adds $1.38 an hour. Then add workers' compensation, unemployment tax, and paid time off from your own bills. The [driver cost calculator](https://nemtguide.com/tools/nemt-driver-cost-calculator/) works out an hourly cost from wages, taxes, overtime, and benefits.

Count waiting as driver time when the driver is on duty. Under [29 CFR 785.15](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-785.15), an employee who is engaged to wait is working, so you pay for that time whether the van moves or not.

If a ride needs a second person, such as an attendant on a stretcher ride, add that person's hourly cost to the driver cost per hour.

### Vehicle cost per mile

This is what each mile burns and wears out: fuel, tires, oil, brakes, and repairs. For fuel, divide the price of a gallon by your miles per gallon. The U.S. average for regular gasoline was $4.478 a gallon for the week of September 21, 2026, up $1.305 from a year earlier (EIA). At an example 15 miles per gallon, that is about 30 cents a mile before tires and repairs. The fuel cost calculator does this step for you.

Add up tires, oil changes, and repairs over several months and divide by the miles driven, because repairs come in lumps. Leave insurance and loan payments in overhead so nothing is counted twice.

### Overhead per trip

Add up one month of costs that stay the same however far you drive: commercial auto insurance, the vehicle loan or lease payment, phone, dispatch, office rent, and office pay. Divide by the trips you ran that month. A new company with few trips carries a high overhead per trip, and it falls as trips grow.

## A worked example

The calculator opens with example numbers. They show how the math works. They are not market rates, so replace them with your own.

| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Driver time cost | 45 minutes ÷ 60 × $20 an hour | $15.00 |
| Vehicle cost | (10 trip miles + 5 empty miles) × $0.60 a mile | $9.00 |
| Cost of the trip | $15.00 + $9.00 + $6.00 overhead | $30.00 |
| Price to charge | $30.00 ÷ (1 minus 20%), which is $30.00 ÷ 0.8 | $37.50 |
| Profit on the trip | $37.50 minus $30.00 | $7.50 |

The $7.50 profit is 20% of the $37.50 price, which is exactly what a 20% margin means. A 20% markup would have charged $36.00 and kept only $6.00.

## How to use the price

### Turn two runs into a rate sheet

One trip price is a starting point. A rate sheet with a base rate plus a rate per mile lets you quote any ride in seconds, and two runs of the calculator give you both numbers.

1. Price a short ride. With the example costs, 5 trip miles, 5 empty miles, and 30 minutes comes to $27.50.
2. Price a long ride. With the same costs, 25 trip miles, 5 empty miles, and 90 minutes comes to $67.50.
3. Divide the difference in price by the difference in trip miles. That is $40.00 ÷ 20 miles, or $2.00 a mile.
4. Take the short ride's price and subtract its miles at that rate. That is $27.50 minus $10.00, a base rate of $17.50.

A base of $17.50 plus $2.00 a mile prices both rides exactly. Write the result on a one-page [NEMT rate sheet](https://nemtguide.com/templates/nemt-rate-sheet/), and see [how much to charge for NEMT](https://nemtguide.com/guides/how-much-to-charge-for-nemt/) for wait rates, add-on fees, and a full pricing method.

### Price each level of service

Wheelchair and stretcher rides take longer to load, may need a second crew member, and use vehicles that cost more to run. Run the calculator once for each level and give each its own price. All three rows below use 10 trip miles, 5 empty miles, $6.00 overhead, and a 20% margin. The other numbers are examples.

| Box or result | Ambulatory | Wheelchair | Stretcher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Driver time | 30 minutes | 45 minutes | 60 minutes |
| Driver cost per hour | $20 | $20 | $40 |
| Vehicle cost per mile | $0.40 | $0.60 | $0.80 |
| Cost of the trip | $22.00 | $30.00 | $58.00 |
| Price to charge | $27.50 | $37.50 | $72.50 |

The stretcher row pays for two people, a driver and an attendant, so its cost per hour is double.

If one kind of vehicle costs more to insure or finance, give it its own overhead per trip as well.

### Price waiting and round trips

With the example costs, every 15 minutes of waiting adds $5.00 of driver cost and $6.25 to the price. A 60-minute wait turns the $37.50 example ride into $62.50, because the driver time goes from 45 to 105 minutes.

Price a round trip as two trips, one for each leg. Put the wait on the leg home. If the driver takes another ride during the appointment instead of waiting, leave the wait out.

### Check a Medicaid or broker rate

Set the margin to 0% and the calculator shows what a trip costs you, $30.00 with the example numbers. Then compare it with what the trip pays.

Say the example is a wheelchair van ride in Ohio. The state's Medicaid fee-for-service maximum is $31.00 a trip (code A0130) plus $1.30 a mile (code S0209), rates in place since January 1, 2024, in the appendix to Ohio Administrative Code 5160-15-28 (effective August 1, 2026). For 10 loaded miles, the most it pays is $44.00, or $14.00 above the $30.00 cost. Ohio pays nothing for the 5 empty miles: rule 5160-15-26 treats the drive to the pickup and from the drop-off as part of the service, with no separate payment. The calculator already counted those miles in the cost.

Ohio's fee-for-service program also pays the lower of your billed charge and the maximum. On this ride, a billed charge under $44.00 would be paid at the charge. Ohio's Medicaid managed care plans pay what their own provider agreements say (rule 5160-15-28(B)). Other states and every broker set their own rates, so check yours in [NEMT reimbursement rates](https://nemtguide.com/guides/nemt-reimbursement-rates/) and in your broker contract.

You cannot bill a Medicaid member for a covered ride. Under [42 CFR 447.15](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/section-447.15), a Medicaid provider accepts the program's payment, plus any cost sharing the plan sets, as payment in full. MTM Health's standard provider agreement, in the January 1, 2023 version Pennsylvania posts, also bars billing members, except for a copayment or fee that MTM or its client authorizes. Keep your private prices for private work.

### Rerun your numbers when costs move

Fuel, wages, and insurance premiums all change your cost per trip. The IRS raised its business standard mileage rate from 72.5 cents to 76 cents a mile for driving from July 1, 2026, and said the change came from recent increases in the price of fuel (Announcement 2026-11). A change like that is a sign to recheck your own vehicle cost per mile and rerun the calculator.

## Mistakes that price a ride too low

- **Leaving out empty miles.** A 10-mile ride can take 20 miles of driving.
- **Counting only driving time.** Loading, securement, and waiting all take the driver's time.
- **Using markup math for a margin.** Multiplying by 1.2 keeps less than 20% of the price.
- **Pricing a round trip as one ride.** The trip home has its own miles and driver time.
- **Forgetting overhead.** Insurance and loan payments are due whether you run 10 trips or 300.

Once you have a price, the [break-even calculator](https://nemtguide.com/tools/nemt-break-even-calculator/) shows how many trips a month cover your fixed costs. For ways to find and keep private riders, see [private pay NEMT](https://nemtguide.com/guides/private-pay-nemt/).

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the difference between profit margin and markup?

Margin is profit as a share of the price. Markup is profit as a share of the cost. A $30 trip with a 20% markup sells for $36 and keeps $6, which is a margin of about 16.7%. To keep a true 20% margin, divide the cost by 0.8 and charge $37.50.

### Should the price cover empty miles?

Yes. You pay for fuel and wear on every mile, with or without a rider on board. The calculator adds the empty miles to the trip miles, so the price covers the drive out to the pickup and back from the drop-off. If the van goes straight on to another ride, count only the drive out, so the same miles are not charged twice.

### How do I work out my vehicle cost per mile?

Divide the price of a gallon by your miles per gallon for fuel. At the September 21, 2026 U.S. average of $4.478 for regular gasoline and an example 15 miles per gallon, fuel is about 30 cents a mile. Then add tires, oil changes, and repairs over several months divided by the miles driven. Keep insurance and loan payments in overhead so nothing is counted twice.

### Can I use the IRS mileage rate as my cost per mile?

Only as a rough check. The IRS business standard mileage rate is 76 cents a mile for driving from July 1 through December 31, 2026. It takes the place of actual costs such as gas, repairs, tires, insurance, and depreciation, and the IRS does not allow it for five or more cars operated at the same time. Your own fuel and repair numbers are better.

### Does this price apply to Medicaid trips?

No. Medicaid and broker trips pay the rate in your contract or the state fee schedule, whatever your costs. Under 42 CFR 447.15, a Medicaid provider accepts the program's payment as payment in full, so you cannot bill the member the difference. Run a Medicaid trip with a 0% margin to see what it costs you, then compare that with what it pays.

### Should waiting time count in driver time?

Yes, when your driver is on duty while waiting. Under 29 CFR 785.15, an employee who is engaged to wait is working, so you pay for that time. Add the minutes the driver waits at the pickup or during the appointment. With the example costs, every 15 minutes of waiting adds $5.00 of cost and $6.25 to the price.

### How do I price a round trip?

Price each leg as its own trip: the ride to the appointment and the ride home. Each leg has its own miles and driver time. If the driver waits during the appointment, add the wait to the leg home. If the driver takes another ride during the appointment instead, leave the wait out and count the drive back as that leg's empty miles.

## Official resources

- [IRS: Standard mileage rates](https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/standard-mileage-rates)
- [EIA: Weekly retail gasoline and diesel prices](https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/)
- [IRS: Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates](https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc751)
- [eCFR: 29 CFR 785.15, On duty (waiting time is work time)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-785.15)
- [eCFR: 42 CFR 447.15, Medicaid payment in full](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/section-447.15)