Freight trucking is a large, regulated U.S. transportation system measured through several different lenses: registered vehicles, active carriers, drivers, freight flows, crashes, inspections, employment and emissions. The statistics below identify the population, geography, period and measurement type so those denominators are not treated as interchangeable.
Key Freight Trucking Statistics
The most useful headline figures span the fleet, workforce, freight demand, safety and environmental footprint:
- 11,083,997 registered single-unit trucks were recorded in the United States in 2022.
- 3,249,824 registered combination trucks were recorded in the United States in 2022.
- 331.3 billion vehicle miles were traveled by large trucks in the United States in 2022.
- 787,189 motor carriers with recent activity were listed by FMCSA in December 2023 within its interstate or intrastate-hazardous-material regulatory scope.
- Approximately 9 million commercial motor-vehicle drivers were estimated by FMCSA to be operating in the United States in its December 2023 snapshot.
- 42 commodity types are covered by the FAF5 freight-flow framework for the United States.
- 2,221,200 heavy and tractor-trailer truck-driver jobs formed the employment base in the current BLS occupational profile.
- $58,640 was the median annual wage for U.S. heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in May 2025.
- About 214,500 openings per year are projected for U.S. heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers over 2025–2035.
- Approximately 503,000 police-reported crashes involving large trucks occurred in the United States in 2022.
- 5,279 fatal large-truck crashes were estimated among those police-reported large-truck crashes in 2022.
- 54% of fatal large-truck crashes occurred in rural areas of the United States in 2022.
- 3,034,950 roadside inspections were recorded in the United States in fiscal year 2023.
- 1,308,901 inspections with no violations were recorded in fiscal year 2024.
- 23% of U.S. transportation greenhouse-gas emissions came from medium- and heavy-duty trucks in 2022.
- 75% growth in carbon-dioxide emissions from medium- and heavy-duty trucks occurred between 1990 and 2021.
Contents
- U.S. fleet scale, vehicle miles, carriers and drivers
- Freight flows, tonnage and long-term forecasts
- Employment, wages and job openings
- Crashes, fatalities and injuries
- Inspections, violations and enforcement
- Emissions and heavy-duty climate trends
Freight Trucking Statistics: U.S. Fleet Scale, Vehicle Miles, Carriers and Drivers
FMCSA’s 2024 Pocket Guide separates vehicle registration from carrier and driver populations. In 2022, the United States had 11,083,997 registered single-unit trucks and 3,249,824 registered combination trucks; these are vehicle counts, not counts of active freight hauls.
| Measure | U.S. figure | Period and definition |
|---|---|---|
| Registered single-unit trucks | 11,083,997 | 2022; FMCSA census figure |
| Registered combination trucks | 3,249,824 | 2022; combination-truck count |
| Large-truck vehicle miles | 331.3 billion | 2022; truck travel, not ton-miles |
| Carriers with recent activity | 787,189 | December 2023; interstate or intrastate-hazardous-material scope |
| For-hire carriers | 519,420 | December 2023; FMCSA classification |
| Commercial motor-vehicle drivers | Approximately 9 million | December 2023 snapshot; FMCSA estimate |
The carrier figure describes a recent-activity registry population, not every trucking business. For-hire categories can overlap with private and “both” classifications, while the driver estimate covers regulated commercial motor-vehicle drivers rather than only long-haul freight drivers.
Source: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics 2024.
Freight Trucking Data on Tonnage, Value and Long-Term Forecasts
The Freight Analysis Framework Version 5, or FAF5, describes freight flows across U.S. regions and metropolitan areas using modeled measures. Its units distinguish physical weight, economic value and movement intensity rather than treating all freight activity as a truck count.
- FAF5 reports freight weight in thousands of tons.
- FAF5 reports freight value in millions of constant 2017 dollars, so the measure is not nominal current-year revenue.
- FAF5 reports freight activity in millions of ton-miles, combining weight and distance.
- FAF5 covers 42 commodity types, which is a classification count rather than a shipment count.
- FAF5.7.1 provides annual freight-flow estimates for 2018 through 2023, with 2024 separately identified as preliminary.
- FAF5.7.1 provides forecast-year estimates from 2030 through 2050; these are scenario-dependent forecasts, not realized totals.
A cited FAF forecast result estimated U.S. export tonnage at 2.1 billion tons in 2050. The study reported that result as about 122 million tons above its baseline scenario, so it should be read as a forecast outcome rather than an observed total.
Sources: Freight Analysis Framework Version 5 (FAF5), Freight Analysis Framework – FHWA Freight Management and Operations, and Freight Analysis Framework Commodity Flow Forecast Study: Final Forecasting Results.
Freight Trucking Employment, Wages and Projected Job Openings
BLS occupational data describe heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, an occupation broader than freight-only long-haul drivers. The current Occupational Outlook Handbook lists 2,221,200 jobs in its 2024 employment base and reports a $58,640 median annual wage and $28.19 median hourly wage in May 2025.
| BLS measure | Figure | Reference period |
|---|---|---|
| Employment | 2,221,200 jobs | 2024 employment base in current profile |
| Median annual wage | $58,640 | May 2025 |
| Median hourly wage | $28.19 | May 2025 |
| Projected employment growth | 4% | 2025–2035 |
| Additional projected jobs | About 83,800 | 2025–2035 |
| Average annual openings | About 214,500 | 2025–2035; includes replacement openings |
The projected 83,800 additional jobs are not the same measure as the 214,500 projected openings per year. BLS says the annual openings include replacement needs as well as openings associated with employment growth, and the projection is not a guarantee of realized hiring.
The older May 2023 BLS national estimates provide a separate reference point: employment was 2,044,400, the mean hourly wage was $26.92, the mean annual wage was $55,990, and the median hourly wage was $26.12. Annual wages ranged from $37,440 at the 10th percentile to $76,780 at the 90th percentile in that occupational estimate; these figures differ by reference year and mean-versus-median definition.
Sources: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers: Occupational Outlook Handbook and Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023: 53-3032 Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers.
Large-Truck Crash, Fatality and Injury Statistics
Crash totals vary because the sources use different systems and categories. FMCSA’s 2022 crash summary combines large trucks and buses for some figures, while Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts provides large-truck estimates and MCMIS reports a separate preliminary safety-outcomes series.
In 2022, 5,476 fatal U.S. roadway crashes involved at least one large truck or bus, equal to 14.0% of 39,221 fatal crashes. The estimated nonfatal total was 548,000 of 5,892,000 crashes, or 9.30%, for the combined large-truck-or-bus category.
For large trucks specifically, approximately 503,000 police-reported crashes occurred in 2022, including 5,279 fatal crashes and 114,000 injury crashes. Crash involvement does not establish carrier fault or causation.
The 2022 large-truck fatal-crash profile included 21% single-vehicle crashes and 62% two-vehicle crashes. Approximately 54% occurred in rural areas, 27% occurred on Interstate highways, and 13% occurred both in rural areas and on rural Interstates; the location shares are not crash rates per mile and the intersection is not additive with the separate shares.
Nighttime, defined by the source as 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., accounted for 39% of fatal large-truck crashes in 2022.
Sources: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics 2024 and Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2022.
Freight Trucking Inspections, Violations and Safety Enforcement
Roadside inspection activity measures enforcement events, not unique trucks or carriers. The fiscal-year totals below include federal and state inspections and should not be interpreted as a carrier-level compliance percentage.
| Fiscal year | Roadside inspections | Federal | State | Inspections with no violations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2022 | 2,945,303 | 81,366 | 2,863,937 | 1,242,706 |
| FY 2023 | 3,034,950 | 78,490 | 2,956,460 | 1,311,056 |
| FY 2024 | 3,001,770 | 77,628 | 2,924,142 | 1,308,901 |
FMCSA and states performed 12,560 carrier investigations in FY 2022, including 8,302 federal and 4,258 state investigations. In FY 2023, the total was 12,574 investigations, including 8,014 federal and 4,560 state investigations.
Hazardous-material investigations were a defined subset: 985 were recorded in FY 2022, including 521 federal and 464 state investigations. Investigation counts describe enforcement activity, not confirmed violations or crash causation.
FMCSA’s MCMIS progress report recorded 170,170 large-truck crashes, 5,655 fatalities and 77,302 injuries in calendar year 2022. For calendar year 2023, it recorded 156,942 crashes, 4,936 fatalities and 74,187 injuries.
The MCMIS outcomes are preliminary for 22 months, and states report within 90 days. They use definitions and reporting scopes that differ from FARS, CRSS and police-reported totals, so the series should not be directly substituted for those measures.
Sources: A&I Online: Roadside Inspection Activity and Motor Carrier Safety Progress Report (as of June 30, 2024).
Truck Transportation Emissions and Heavy-Duty Climate Trends
EPA data place trucking within broader transportation and medium/heavy-duty categories. In 2022, medium- and heavy-duty trucks produced 23% of U.S. transportation greenhouse-gas emissions; this category is not identical to every freight truck.
Transportation accounted for 29% of total U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions in 2022 when direct and indirect emissions were counted, or 28% when only direct emissions were counted. Those transportation shares include non-truck modes and therefore are not trucking-only totals.
The longer trend is also sector- and category-specific:
- Total transportation emissions from fossil-fuel combustion increased 19% from 1990 to 2022.
- Transportation emissions decreased by less than 1% from 2021 to 2022.
- Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles represented 5% of vehicles on the road in the EPA Phase 3 response document’s 2021 context.
- Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles accounted for 25% of transportation-sector carbon-dioxide emissions in 2021.
- Carbon-dioxide emissions from medium- and heavy-duty trucks increased 75% from 1990 to 2021.
- Medium- and heavy-duty truck vehicle miles traveled increased 66% from 1990 to 2021.
These EPA figures measure sector emissions, vehicle-category shares or vehicle miles traveled; they do not provide a complete census of freight-trucking emissions or a per-ton efficiency measure.
Sources: Transportation Sector Emissions and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles: Phase 3—Response to Comments.