How to Make Money in Transport Fever 3

Quick answer: money in Transport Fever 3 comes from moving cargo and passengers, and each delivery's income is driven by four factors the official Wiki now documents: how long the trip takes, the straight-line distance between pickup and drop-off, any uphill height difference (which counts at eight times its value), and the difficulty level you're playing on. The official page does not publish a full player-facing revenue formula, so treat any exact "you earn X for Y" claim you see online as unverified.

How income is calculated

The official Transport Fever 3 Wiki documents a cargo income function with four factors. Each one answers a different "does this make me money?" question.

Travel time

timeInMs is the time between the initial pickup and the drop-off at a valid destination. It's the reason time participates in income: a fast delivery is treated differently from a slow one. The Wiki documents that time is part of the function — it does not publish the exact curve.

Distance

Income is relative to the aerial distance between pickup and drop-off — the straight-line distance as the crow flies, not the length of track or road you actually built. Distance still counts, but the Wiki doesn't give enough to reconstruct the full formula from distance alone.

Height difference (×8)

If the drop-off is higher than the pickup, the height difference is added to the distance at eight times its value. Uphill deliveries are weighted much more heavily than flat or downhill ones. This is the single most counter-intuitive factor — and the one most worth testing in your own game.

Difficulty

Income scales with the difficulty level you choose. The same delivery pays differently on easy versus hard, so difficulty is part of the answer to "how much will I make", not a separate topic.

What this means in practice

Longer isn't automatically better. Time and distance are both in the function, but the shape of the curve isn't published — don't trust any "best distance" number you see online.
Uphill routes count differently. A route that climbs earns differently from the same goods on flat ground, because height difference is weighted ×8. This is the easiest thing to verify by comparing two lines in your own game.
Difficulty is an economy lever. Play on a higher difficulty and the same network produces less income — it's not just a "harder AI".
Skip unverified numbers. Because the full formula isn't public, any specific "you earn X for Y" figure is a guess until game files, in-game testing, or an official source confirm it.

What's still not confirmed

Players are actively debating two things the official Wiki does not settle: who "pays" for the final consumer, and how money is attributed across a multi-leg route. Both are open questions on the community — treat any specific answer you see as a hypothesis, not a confirmed mechanic.

Sources & Verification

Data point	Status	Source	Last verified
Income depends on travel time (`timeInMs`)	Official	Wiki — Cargo Income Function	2026-10-01
Income relative to aerial distance	Official	Wiki — Cargo Income Function	2026-10-01
Height difference ×8 on uphill	Official	Wiki — Cargo Income Function	2026-10-01
Income scales with difficulty	Official	Wiki — Cargo Income Function	2026-10-01
Full player-facing revenue formula	Not published	Wiki — Cargo Income Function	2026-10-01
Who pays the final consumer	Community hypothesis	Reddit: money calculation	2026-10-01
Multi-leg money attribution	Community hypothesis	Reddit: money calculation	2026-10-01