Truck driver shortage statistics measure several different things: modeled gaps between available drivers and freight demand, employment and hiring needs, turnover, pay, and operating context. In the United States, ATA shortage estimates are not vacancy counts, while BLS employment and wage figures use occupational definitions and generally exclude self-employed workers.
Key Truck Driver Shortage Statistics
The most broadly useful figures span shortage estimates, labor-market measures, compensation, workforce composition, and operating conditions:
- In the United States, ATA estimated a shortage of just over 60,800 drivers at the end of 2018.
- ATA projected the U.S. trucking shortage could exceed 100,000 drivers within five years of its 2019 forecast.
- ATA forecast a U.S. shortage of about 160,000 drivers in 2028.
- ATA said the U.S. industry would need to hire 1.1 million new drivers over roughly 2019–2028.
- ATA’s 2021 estimate put the U.S. shortage at just over 80,000 drivers.
- BLS counted about 2,221,200 heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in 2025 in the United States.
- BLS projects 2,305,000 heavy and tractor-trailer truck driver jobs in 2035.
- BLS projects about 214,500 annual openings from 2025 through 2035 for U.S. heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers.
- The BLS median annual wage was $58,640 in May 2025 for U.S. heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers.
- The highest-paid 10% earned more than $79,380 annually in May 2025 in the United States.
- ATA’s 2024 compensation study reported $76,420 for truckload drivers in 2023.
- ATA reported 89% annual turnover in 2018 for large U.S. for-hire truckload carriers.
- ATA reported 73% annual turnover in 2018 for small U.S. for-hire truckload fleets.
- OOIDA’s 2023 member survey found respondents entered trucking at an average age of 29.
- FMCSA recorded 2,909,709 driver inspections in 2023 in the United States.
- The 2023 driver out-of-service inspection rate was 6.4% in the United States.
- The United States had 3,249,824 registered combination trucks in 2022.
- Large trucks and buses were involved in 5,476 fatal crashes in 2022 in the United States.
Contents
- Key Truck Driver Shortage Statistics
- Truck Driver Shortage Estimates and Forecasts
- Truck Driver Employment, Hiring Demand, and Freight Context
- Truck Driver Pay and Compensation Statistics
- Driver Age, Recruitment, and Retention Trends
- Commercial Driver Inspections, Crashes, and Safety Data
- Truck Fleet Scale and Operating Context
Truck Driver Shortage Estimates and Forecasts
ATA’s shortage figures describe a modeled gap between drivers available and drivers needed for freight demand. They are industry estimates and forecasts, not direct counts of vacancies, job postings, unemployment, turnover, or CDL issuance.
- ATA estimated the United States trucking industry was short just over 60,800 drivers at the end of 2018, relative to demand for freight services. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
- In its 2019 forecast, ATA projected that the shortage could exceed 100,000 drivers within five years. That forecast depended on freight growth, retirements, and driver-supply assumptions. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
- ATA projected a shortage of about 160,000 drivers in 2028, concentrated largely in over-the-road for-hire truckload markets. This is a forecast rather than an observed 2028 count. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
- ATA said the industry would need to hire 1.1 million new drivers over roughly 2019–2028. That total includes replacement hiring and economic growth, so it is not equal to the shortage gap. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
- ATA’s implied average hiring requirement was 110,000 new drivers per year during the decade covered by its 2019 report. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
- ATA’s later estimate put the shortage at just over 80,000 drivers in 2021, while its 2021 forecast series listed 97,000 drivers short in 2023 and 106,000 in 2024. Those forecast values were published in 2021 and should not be presented as contemporaneous counts. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
- ATA also described a 78,000-driver shortage in a 2023 workforce statement. This figure is a separately dated industry estimate and differs from other ATA shortage vintages. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
Truck Driver Employment, Hiring Demand, and Freight Context
BLS data show the size and expected flow of the heavy and tractor-trailer driver occupation, but employment growth and annual openings are not the same as a shortage estimate. Annual openings include replacement openings caused by occupational exits and transfers.
| Measure | Period | United States figure |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy and tractor-trailer drivers | 2025 | 2,221,200 employed drivers |
| Projected jobs | 2035 | 2,305,000 jobs |
| Additional jobs | 2025–2035 | 83,800 jobs |
| Employment growth | 2025–2035 | 3.8% |
| Annual openings | 2025–2035 average | 214,500 per year |
Source: BLS, “Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers: Occupational Outlook Handbook” and BLS, “Occupational projections and worker characteristics”. BLS occupational estimates exclude self-employed workers where specified by the underlying OEWS framework.
BLS also lists 2,221,200 drivers in 2024 and 2,305,000 in 2034 in its 2024–34 projection table, alongside a 7.3% annual openings rate. That table is a different projection vintage from the 2025–35 series and should not be mixed with it. BLS, “Occupational projections and worker characteristics”
In May 2025, BLS reported nearly 2.1 million heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers nationwide. Texas had 209,680 jobs, and California had 205,090 jobs in the same occupational category. BLS, “Truck drivers are in it for the long haul”
Truck Driver Pay and Compensation Statistics
Pay varies by the definition, industry, and compensation scope used. BLS wage figures are occupational wage estimates, while ATA’s truckload figure comes from a survey of participating fleets and drivers.
| Pay measure | Period and population | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| BLS median annual wage | May 2025, all U.S. heavy and tractor-trailer drivers | $58,640 |
| BLS mean annual wage | May 2025, same occupation | $59,710 |
| Lowest-paid 10% threshold | May 2025, same occupation | Less than $40,140 |
| Highest-paid 10% threshold | May 2025, same occupation | More than $79,380 |
| Truck transportation median | May 2025, industry-specific | $60,320 |
Source: BLS, “Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers: Occupational Outlook Handbook” and BLS, “Truck drivers are in it for the long haul”.
BLS reported additional May 2025 median wages of $58,550 in wholesale trade, $56,570 in manufacturing, and $56,080 in construction. These are industry-specific wage medians, not total compensation measures. BLS, “Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers: Occupational Outlook Handbook”
ATA’s 2024 compensation study reported a $76,420 median annual amount for truckload drivers in 2023. Its survey population and compensation scope differ from BLS wage estimates, so the figures are not directly interchangeable. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
Driver Age, Recruitment, and Retention Trends
Workforce composition helps explain why hiring demand can remain high even when net employment growth is modest. The available age and turnover measures cover different populations and should be read as indicators rather than one unified workforce series.
- ATA reported an average over-the-road driver age of 46 years in its 2019 shortage-report context. The population is narrower than all truck drivers. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
- ATA reported the average age of a new driver being trained as 35 years. This training population may differ from all new CDL holders. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
- OOIDA’s 2023 member survey found respondents entered trucking at an average age of 29, and reported roughly 29 years of professional driving experience on average. These are self-reported member-survey results, not a probability sample of all U.S. drivers. OOIDA, “2023 Professional Drivers Education Survey: Member Profile Survey Results”
- ATA said women represented 7% of all truck drivers in its 2021 report context. Gender classification and the driver universe follow ATA’s definition. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
| Fleet group | Period | Annual turnover |
|---|---|---|
| Large for-hire truckload carriers | 2018 | 89% |
| Small for-hire truckload fleets | 2018 | 73% |
Source: ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”. Turnover is not the same as shortage and includes churn between carriers.
ATA also said the trucking industry invests more than $10 billion annually in safety and employee development, but that aggregate is not driver-recruitment spending alone. ATA, “ATA Releases Updated Driver Shortage Report and Forecast”
Commercial Driver Inspections, Crashes, and Safety Data
Safety statistics provide operating context, not direct evidence that a shortage caused a particular outcome. FMCSA’s inspection count measures enforcement activity, and its crash datasets use definitions that vary across FARS, MCMIS, and other systems.
| FMCSA measure | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Driver inspections | 2023 | 2,909,709 |
| Inspections with an out-of-service violation | 2023 | 185,640 |
| Driver out-of-service rate | 2019 | 5.1% |
| Driver out-of-service rate | 2020 | 5.2% |
| Driver out-of-service rate | 2021 | 6.1% |
| Driver out-of-service rate | 2022 | 6.9% |
| Driver out-of-service rate | 2023 | 6.4% |
Source: FMCSA, “2024 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics”. Rates are shares of driver inspections, not shares of all drivers, and inspections are not unique-driver counts.
In 2022, large trucks and buses were involved in 5,476 fatal crashes and an estimated 548,000 nonfatal crashes in the United States. The nonfatal-crash estimate is rounded to the nearest thousand and includes injury and property-damage-only crashes. FMCSA, “2024 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics”
Truck Fleet Scale and Operating Context
Fleet and infrastructure measures show the scale in which driver supply operates, but vehicle counts are not driver counts and include vehicles beyond the heavy long-haul shortage population.
- The United States had 11,083,997 registered single-unit trucks in 2022. FMCSA, “2024 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics”
- The United States had 3,249,824 registered combination trucks in 2022. FMCSA, “2024 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics”
- All motor vehicles recorded 3,196.2 billion vehicle miles traveled in 2022 in the United States. This is not truck-only mileage. FMCSA, “2024 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics”
- FMCSA listed 55,357 certified medical examiners on August 1, 2024. Examiners with offices in multiple states are counted in each state. FMCSA, “2024 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics”
- FMCSA counted 13,564 safety inspectors in 2023, including 13,096 state inspectors and 468 federal inspectors. Not all listed personnel were assigned full-time to inspections. FMCSA, “2024 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics”
- Large-truck fatal crashes in work zones totaled 241 in 2022, or 4.6% of large-truck fatal crashes. FMCSA, “2024 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics”
- Class 8 trucks accounted for 3,843 vehicles in fatal crashes in 2022 in the FMCSA vehicle-class table. Vehicle involvement is not driver fault, a driver count, or an employment measure. FMCSA, “2024 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics”