US Trucking Industry Statistics 2026: Verified Data

Most trucking statistics online are two or three years old, copied from one blog to the next, with no word on where they came from. We went back to the source for this one. Every number below comes from a federal agency, a named research group, or a public rate report, and the year sits right next to it.

We pulled these figures on October 27, 2026. Where two sources disagree, we show both and explain why.

The short version

Trucks moved about 72.7% of U.S. freight by weight in 2024, according to the American Trucking Associations (ATA). The industry-average cost to run a truck was $2.336 per mile in 2025 (ATRI). Diesel stood at $6.352 a gallon on October 26, 2026 (EIA), and dry van spot linehaul averaged $2.24 per mile that week (DAT).

How much freight do trucks move?

The ATA says trucks moved roughly 72.7% of the nation's freight by weight in 2024. That works out to an estimated 11.27 billion tons and $906 billion in gross freight revenue. ATA is clear that the tonnage and revenue figures cover primary shipments only. You can check them on ATA's economics and industry data page.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) counts freight a different way. Its Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2025 breaks 2024 freight into every mode, including imports and exports.

Dividing the truck row by the total row gives about 65% of tons and about 73% of value. That's our division of BTS's numbers, not a figure BTS prints itself.

So which is right, 72.7% or 65%? Both, for what they measure. BTS puts every mode in one pot, including more than 4 billion tons moved by pipeline and 634 million tons in multimodal and mail shipments. ATA states its numbers are for primary shipments. If you quote a share, name the source and the year. And don't compare BTS's 2024 table to older editions: BTS notes the data aren't comparable with earlier years because of updates to the Freight Analysis Framework.

One more thing the table shows. Trucks carry a bigger share of the value than of the weight. By our math from the same table, a ton moved by truck was worth about $1,400, against about $490 for rail and about $380 for pipeline.

How many trucks, carriers and drivers are there?

FMCSA's Registration Statistics page counts every active carrier with a USDOT number. Its carrier data was last updated September 25, 2026, and its operating authority data is from May 15, 2026.

Two things stand out. About half of all registered carriers (1.08 million of 2.13 million) are for-hire, meaning they haul other people's freight. The rest run private fleets or a mix. The authority rows come from a separate FMCSA file with a different date and definitions, so don't compare them directly with the carrier counts above.

The broker count is one we can check ourselves. In our analysis of FMCSA broker authority data, we counted 25,081 dockets with active broker authority when FMCSA's older public files froze in mid-May 2026. FMCSA's Registration Statistics shows 25,074 brokers for May 15. Two different files, and the counts are within seven records of each other.

Drivers are where sources split the most. FMCSA shows 9,554,974 drivers reported by registered carriers. The ATA counts 3.58 million truck drivers employed in 2024, down 0.8% from 2023. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) lists 2,221,200 jobs for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in 2025. They aren't in conflict. FMCSA counts every driver a carrier reports, including private fleets and drivers without a CDL (5,325,265 hold one). BLS counts one occupation. Use the number that matches your question.

BLS also gives the pay picture. Heavy and tractor-trailer drivers earned a median of $58,640 a year, or $28.19 an hour, in May 2025. BLS projects 4% job growth from 2025 to 2035 and about 214,500 openings a year. All of that is on the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook page.

Two more ATA numbers help with scale. There were 14.89 million trucks registered in 2023, about 5% of all registered motor vehicles, and 8.4 million people worked in jobs tied to trucking in 2024 (this excludes the self-employed).

What does it cost to run a truck?

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) publishes the benchmark here. Its report, released July 15, 2026, puts the industry-average cost to operate a truck in 2025 at $2.336 per mile, 3.4% above the year before. Without fuel, the cost was $1.854 per mile, up 4.2%. Read ATRI's announcement of the 2026 report for the full release.

Two lines grew slower than inflation: fuel and, for the second year in a row, driver pay. So driver pay is not the line pushing carrier costs up in ATRI's data.

The margins are the part shippers should read twice. Truckload and refrigerated carriers had operating margins below 1.0% in 2025, though slightly better than before. Tank carriers averaged 4.0%. Flatbed carriers averaged an operating loss of 0.5%. A carrier running at under 1% has almost no cushion for a surprise, such as a repair bill, a long detention wait or a rate cut. If you're negotiating a rate, our guide on how to negotiate freight rates with carriers is a good place to start.

Diesel and spot rates right now

Fuel is the most visible cost, and it changes weekly. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes the national on-highway diesel average every Monday. Here are the last six readings from EIA's weekly retail price table.

Diesel dipped to $6.179 on October 12, then rose for two straight weeks. If your contract uses a fuel surcharge tied to EIA's weekly price, that swing shows up on your invoice. We explain how those tables work in our fuel surcharge guide.

On rates, DAT's dry van report for the week ending October 24, 2026 had spot linehaul (the rate paid to the carrier, before fuel) at $2.24 per mile. That's down 0.7%, or $0.02, from the prior week, but up 32.8%, or $0.55, from a year earlier. DAT's nine-year seasonal average for this time of year is $1.82, so the current rate sits 23.5% above it.

Be careful when you set that $2.24 against ATRI's $2.336. They aren't the same thing. DAT's figure is a lane-level spot rate that excludes fuel. ATRI's is a fleet-wide average cost that includes fuel. ATRI's ex-fuel number ($1.854) is closer in scope, but it's still an average across all kinds of carriers, not one lane. Treat the comparison as a sense of scale, not a margin calculation. For why rates have moved this year, see our post on why truck freight rates are rising in 2026, and for when to lock a rate, read spot rate vs. contract rate.

How much trade with Canada and Mexico rides on trucks?

BTS's TransBorder Freight Data annual report for 2025, released May 15, 2026, puts total U.S. freight flows with Canada and Mexico at $1.6 trillion, down 1.0% from 2024. Freight with Canada was $712.8 billion, down 6.4%. Freight with Mexico was $872.8 billion, up 3.9%.

Trucking carried 55.7% of the value of trade with Canada and 73.6% of trade with Mexico. Pipelines (13.4%) and rail (12.6%) are the next-biggest modes with Canada, and rail's share with Mexico was 10.9%. BTS also puts the daily flow at about $4.0 billion in cross-border freight. If you ship across either border, our cross-border freight service and guide to U.S., Mexico and Canada lanes cover the paperwork and the lane specifics.

What these numbers mean if you ship freight

Check who you hire. With more than 2.1 million registered carriers and 25,074 licensed brokers, the pool is huge, and not everyone in it is reliable. Look up the MC and USDOT number on FMCSA before the first load. Our guide on how freight brokers vet carriers lists what we check.

Expect costs to keep creeping up. ATRI's per-mile cost rose 3.4% in 2025. Carriers with margins under 1% can't absorb much. Ask for rates that cover the real cost of the lane, and be wary of anything far below it.

Know how your fuel is priced. At $6.35 a gallon, the way a surcharge is indexed can move a bill by real money. Ask whether it follows EIA's weekly number, which week it uses, and when the change takes effect.

Don't treat spot and contract as one market. Spot linehaul is 32.8% higher than a year ago. A contract rate set a year ago may now sit below today's spot rate, so expect a harder conversation at renewal. Talk to your broker before the contract comes up, not on the day it expires.

Quick answers

What percentage of U.S. freight is moved by truck?

ATA says 72.7% by weight in 2024. BTS's 2024 table shows trucks at about 65% of tons and 73% of value across all modes. The numbers differ because the two sources count different things.

How many trucking companies are in the U.S.?

FMCSA lists 2,132,868 registered motor carriers as of September 25, 2026. About 1.08 million of them are for-hire carriers.

What is the average cost per mile to run a truck?

ATRI puts it at $2.336 per mile in 2025, including fuel, and $1.854 per mile without fuel.

How much do truck drivers make?

BLS reports a median of $58,640 a year ($28.19 an hour) for heavy and tractor-trailer drivers in May 2025.

What is the current dry van spot rate?

DAT's report for the week ending October 24, 2026 shows $2.24 per mile in linehaul, before fuel.

Sources and how we checked them

We read each figure on the original page, not a summary of it, and wrote down the date. Where we did the math (the BTS shares), we say so. Here is where each set of numbers comes from:

Freight share, revenue, trucks and jobs: American Trucking Associations, Economics and Industry Data, 2024 figures.

Freight by mode: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2025, Table 12, 2024 data.

Carriers, drivers and brokers: FMCSA Registration Statistics, snapshots dated September 25, 2026 and May 15, 2026.

Cost per mile and margins: ATRI, 2026 Operational Costs of Trucking update, published July 15, 2026.

Driver pay and jobs: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 pay and 2025 to 2035 projections.

Diesel: EIA weekly retail diesel prices, through the week of October 26, 2026.

Spot rates: DAT dry van report, published October 26, 2026.

Cross-border trade: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, 2025 annual report, released May 15, 2026.

We'll update this page when ATRI, ATA, BTS or FMCSA publish new editions. Diesel and spot rates change every week, so check the linked pages for the latest reading.

Many ocean container moves start or end with a short truck leg called drayage. Our shipper's guide to drayage explains how those moves work.

The bottom line

Trucking is still the backbone of U.S. freight: about 73% of freight value (BTS) and, depending on who counts, 65% to 72.7% of the weight. It's also a thin-margin business with rising costs and prices that swing with diesel. If you ship full truckloads and want help reading what these numbers mean for your lanes, see our full truckload service or request a quote. The American Truck Inc. is a licensed freight broker (MC 1631835, USDOT 4221571).

For context on the market, see the U.S. trucking crisis and possible solutions and predictions for the future of freight.

Cover photo: Braeson Holland on Pexels.