LTL Driver Career Guide,
Salary, Licence & Jobs 2026

LTL drivers fall under Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers (SOC 53-3032), with an OEWS May 2025 median of $58,640 a year, or $28.19 an hour, and a range from $40,140 to $79,380. LTL pay is often hourly and seniority-driven, so established city and linehaul drivers at unionised carriers sit well up the range, toward the $69,120 to $79,380 figures.

They handle less-than-truckload freight — many small shipments from many shippers on one trailer. City pickup-and-delivery drivers run multi-stop routes, using liftgates and pallet jacks, inspecting freight, classing shipments under the NMFC and capturing signatures. Linehaul drivers run overnight terminal-to-terminal, often pulling double trailers. Both involve much more dock work and paperwork than truckload driving.

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It depends on what you want. LTL trades the high per-mile ceiling and away-from-home time of over-the-road for more home time, hourly pay, benefits and seniority-based progression, especially at unionised carriers. The trade-offs are more physical freight handling, multi-stop routes and dock work. Many drivers prefer LTL for the schedule and stability once they build seniority.

For city pickup-and-delivery, a standard Class A CDL is enough. For linehaul work pulling double or triple trailers in combination, you need the doubles/triples (T) endorsement, a knowledge-test add-on under 49 CFR Part 383. No hazmat or tanker endorsement is required unless the specific freight or route calls for it.

Get a Class A CDL through FMCSA-registered entry-level training and a state skills test, hold a DOT medical card, and register in the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. Many drivers start on the dock or in city P&D to learn freight handling and earn seniority, then add the doubles/triples endorsement to bid into linehaul as senior, better-paid work opens up.

Because each trailer carries many shipments that must be rated, tracked and billed separately. Drivers class every shipment under the National Motor Freight Classification, complete bills of lading and delivery receipts, record weights and dimensions for rating, and note any concealed damage. Truckload driving, with one shipper and one consignee, has far less of this per load.