How much do truck drivers make in 2026?
Truck drivers have their own BLS wage series, and a very large one: OEWS May 2025 puts the SOC 53-3032 national median at $58,640 a year ($28.19 an hour) across 2,062,040 heavy and tractor-trailer drivers, with the bottom 10% near $40,140 and the top 10% at $79,380. The most important thing to understand about this number is that it blends fundamentally different pay models. Over-the-road drivers are usually paid cents per mile, so income depends on miles the dispatcher can produce and on detention time nobody pays for. Local and regional drivers are more often hourly, which pays for waiting but caps upside. Less-than-truckload and unionised carriers pay hourly plus mileage with seniority-based bidding. Specialised work — flatbed, tanker, hazmat, oversize — pays a skill or endorsement premium. Owner-operators do not appear in these figures at all, since their income is business revenue. What consistently moves a driver up the band is the combination of a clean record and safe driving history, endorsements, specialised freight, and a carrier whose freight network actually produces the miles or hours promised. Employment is projected to grow 4% through 2034 with roughly 237,600 openings a year. → Full truck driver career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $58,640 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Truck Drivers earn a national median $58,640/yr ($28.19/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 53-3032); the P10 to P90 range is $40,140 to $79,380.
- Heavy and tractor-trailer drivers have a dedicated BLS series covering 2,062,040 workers, with a $58,640 median and a $40,140 to $79,380 band.
- The band blends incompatible pay models — cents per mile, hourly, percentage and per load — so the pay structure matters more to real income than the headline median does.
- Endorsements, specialised freight and a clean safety record are what move a driver upward; owner-operator income is business revenue and does not appear in these figures at all.
US Truck Driver Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do truck drivers earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 53-3032; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 53-3032, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does a truck driver earn at each career stage?
Driver pay progresses through record, endorsements and freight type rather than through years held. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 53-3032.
By State
Which states pay truck drivers the most in 2026?
State figures are modeled estimates — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers salary-calculator state wage index — not BLS state observations. For drivers the modeled geography should be read cautiously: over-the-road pay follows the carrier's rate structure rather than the state you sleep in, while local and regional pay does track local markets, port and rail hub density and industrial activity.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($67,440), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
truck driver pay by state — all 9 state guides
By Metro
Which cities pay truck drivers the most?
Metro figures are modeled — national median times state wage index times published metro index — not BLS MSA observations. Metro premiums are most real for local and drayage work, where congestion, appointment windows and dock time reduce the number of loads a driver completes and raise the hourly rate needed to attract them.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a truck driver’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does truck driver pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Truck Drivers sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify truck driver wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a truck driver actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Truck Driver Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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