Truck transportation cost spans carrier operating expense, shipper-facing service prices, spot-market rates and the value of freight moved. The measures below separate those concepts across U.S. trucking and freight data from 1990 through October 2025.
Key Truck Transportation Cost Statistics
The most broadly useful truck transportation cost figures are:
- In 2023, $2.270 per vehicle-mile was the overall marginal operating cost reported by ATRI-participating motor carriers.
- In 2023, $1.716 per vehicle-mile was the fuel-excluded marginal operating cost reported by ATRI-participating motor carriers.
- In 2023, driver wages averaged $0.779 per vehicle-mile for ATRI-participating motor carriers.
- In 2023, truck and trailer payments averaged $0.360 per vehicle-mile for ATRI-participating motor carriers.
- In 2023, repair and maintenance averaged $0.202 per vehicle-mile for ATRI-participating motor carriers.
- In 2023, truck insurance premiums averaged $0.099 per vehicle-mile for ATRI-participating motor carriers.
- In 2024, U.S. freight transportation handled 19.895 billion tons moved to, from and within the United States.
- In 2024, truck moved 12.844 billion tons of U.S. freight under the Freight Analysis Framework mode assignment.
- In 2024, truck-mode freight was valued at $18.079 trillion in current dollars.
- In 2024, truck accounted for 65% of U.S. freight tons moved to, from and within the country.
- In 2024, truck accounted for 73% of total U.S. freight value in current dollars.
- From 2021 to 2022, truck transportation service prices rose 20.0% in the U.S. transportation-services PPI.
- By October 2025, dry-van spot rates were 14.9% below October 2022 levels in the U.S. national spot market.
- In 2023, deadhead mileage averaged 16.3% for ATRI non-tank operations.
- In 2023, average operating margins were 6% or lower in every ATRI fleet size and sector except LTL.
- In 2023, truckload driver turnover rose 5 percentage points from 2022 in the ATRI truckload sector.
- In 2024, average truck speed was 20.45 mph near the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach within five miles of the port.
- In 2024, average truck speed was 18.48 mph near the Port of New York/Newark within five miles of the port.
Contents
- Truck operating cost per mile and expense categories
- Truck freight transportation scale and value
- Truck transportation cost trends and spot rates
- Domestic, export and import truck freight data
- Truck efficiency, deadhead and speed statistics
- Truck insurance, margins and historical cost benchmarks
Truck Transportation Cost Statistics: Operating Cost per Mile and Expense Categories
ATRI’s 2023 benchmark describes marginal operating cost reported by participating motor carriers, not a universal tariff or every trucking operation. The overall cost was $2.270 per vehicle-mile, while the fuel-excluded figure was $1.716 per vehicle-mile.
| 2023 ATRI line item | Cost per vehicle-mile | Change from 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Overall marginal operating cost | $2.270 | +0.8% |
| Fuel-excluded marginal cost | $1.716 | +6.6% |
| Truck and trailer payments | $0.360 | +8.8% |
| Driver wages | $0.779 | +7.6% |
| Repair and maintenance | $0.202 | +3.1% |
| Truck insurance premiums | $0.099 | +12.5% |
The $0.779 per-mile driver-wage figure is a carrier-reported wage cost allocated per mile, not an individual driver’s hourly pay. Truck and trailer payments averaged $0.360 per mile, repair and maintenance averaged $0.202, and truck insurance premiums averaged $0.099.
These figures come from ATRI’s “New ATRI Research: Industry Costs Increased More than 6 Percent During Freight Recession”. The fuel-excluded measure is a reported cost benchmark, not a recalculation of a freight rate, and the year-over-year changes describe ATRI’s carrier sample.
Truck Freight Transportation Statistics: Shipment Volume, Value and Cost Scale
The Freight Analysis Framework estimated that freight moved to, from and within the United States totaled 19.895 billion tons in 2024, with a current-dollar value of $24.908 trillion. Those are freight-system totals rather than transportation spending.
| 2024 U.S. freight measure | Volume | Current-dollar value |
|---|---|---|
| All freight moved to, from and within the U.S. | 19.895 billion tons | $24.908 trillion |
| Truck-mode freight | 12.844 billion tons | $18.079 trillion |
| Domestic truck freight | 11.905 billion tons | $14.740 trillion |
| Truck-mode exports | 477 million tons | $1.233 trillion |
| Truck-mode imports | 461 million tons | $2.106 trillion |
Truck handled 65% of all freight tons and 73% of total freight value in 2024. The framework classifies multimodal movements separately to avoid double counting, and the truck-mode value is commodity value rather than carrier revenue.
The U.S. freight system averaged 54.8 million tons per day and $68.4 billion of freight value per day in 2024. These are BTS-reported averages derived from annual totals and are not truck-only or measures of transportation spending.
The figures are from the Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2025, which identifies the Freight Analysis Framework results as estimates. The 2024 release also warns that updated FAF data are not comparable with earlier tables.
Truck Transportation Cost Trends: Producer Prices and Spot Rates
Producer prices and carrier operating costs answer different questions. The BLS Producer Price Index measures prices received by domestic producers, while ATRI measures internal operating-cost benchmarks and DAT spot rates describe a limited spot-market segment.
BLS reported the following seasonally adjusted monthly movements in truck transportation of freight during the first half of 2024:
- Prices fell 1.2% from May to June 2024.
- Prices fell 0.6% from April to May 2024.
- Prices rose 0.7% from March to April 2024.
- Prices fell 0.5% from February to March 2024.
- Prices rose 0.6% from January to February 2024.
- Prices rose 0.3% from December 2023 to January 2024.
The source is the BLS Producer Price Index News Release for June 2024. These movements are PPI changes, not changes in carrier cost per mile.
Across a longer comparison, truck transportation service prices rose 20.0% from 2021 to 2022 in the transportation-services PPI, according to the Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2025.
By October 2025, national DAT spot rates were below October 2022 levels for each listed equipment segment:
| U.S. spot-market segment | October 2025 versus October 2022 |
|---|---|
| Dry van | -14.9% |
| Refrigerated truck | -11.1% |
| Flatbed | -11.9% |
DAT spot-market coverage is approximately one-tenth of the overall common-carrier trucking market, and the rates include fuel surcharges. They therefore describe spot-market pricing rather than all contract freight, as noted in the Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2025.
Truck Freight Cost Statistics by Domestic, Export and Import Movement
The 2024 Freight Analysis Framework shows that domestic movements dominated U.S. freight by tonnage, while imports represented a larger share of value than of tons. Foreign-to-foreign transit through the United States is excluded.
| Movement | Share of total freight tons | Share of total freight value |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic | 88.7% | 79.4% |
| Exports | 6.3% | 8.2% |
| Imports | 4.9% | 12.3% |
Within truck-mode freight specifically, 92.7% of tons were domestic, 3.7% were exports and 3.6% were imports in 2024. By truck-mode value, domestic freight represented 81.5%, exports 6.8% and imports 11.6%.
| Truck-mode movement | Share of truck-mode tons | Share of truck-mode value |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic | 92.7% | 81.5% |
| Exports | 3.7% | 6.8% |
| Imports | 3.6% | 11.6% |
The underlying volumes and values are estimates, and the percentages are rounded. The source is the Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2025; commodity value should not be interpreted as truck transportation revenue.
Truck Transportation Efficiency Statistics: Deadhead, Speed and Operating Outcomes
ATRI reported 16.3% average deadhead mileage for non-tank operations in 2023. This is the share of mileage in that ATRI benchmark, not a national statistic for every truck category.
Operating margins were 6% or lower in every ATRI fleet size and sector except LTL in 2023. ATRI reported a threshold across groups rather than one single average for each fleet size and sector, so the result should not be read as a universal margin.
Truckload driver turnover rose 5 percentage points in 2023 compared with 2022 in ATRI’s truckload sector. This is a change in the ATRI-reported measure, not a national employment statistic.
Port-proximity speed data provide an operating-outcome measure for congested freight locations:
| Port area, trucks within five miles | 2023 average | 2024 average | Change from 2023 to 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles/Long Beach | 20.96 mph | 20.45 mph | -2.4% |
| New York/Newark | 18.95 mph | 18.48 mph | -2.5% |
In 2024, New York/Newark’s average was 1.97 mph lower than Los Angeles/Long Beach’s. These are port-proximity averages, not network-wide line-haul speeds or direct cost measures.
The deadhead, margin and turnover figures are reported by ATRI. The port speeds and derived changes are in the Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2025.
Truck Transportation Cost Benchmarks: Insurance, Margins and Historical Comparisons
Historical insurance and operating-expense figures show why time period, unit and survey definition matter. The following series combines distinct historical benchmarks, so the measures should not be treated as one continuous modern per-mile dataset.
| Period and series | Annual operating expense or cost | Insurance measure |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | $2,808 per truck | 4.0% of annual operating expense |
| 2000 | $4,081 per truck | 4.1% of annual operating expense |
| 2001 | $6,744 per truck | 6.0% of annual operating expense |
| 2004 | $164,907 annual operating expense per truck | $7,226; 4.4% |
| 2008 | $212,844 annual operating expense per truck | $6,778; 3.2% |
| 2009 | $169,161 annual operating expense per truck | $5,789; 3.4% |
| 2010 ATRI update | $59.60 per hour total cost | $2.06 per hour; 3.5% |
The 1990 figure covers U.S. trucking except local operations under SIC 4213. The 2000 and 2001 figures are ICF/Edwards study benchmarks, while the 2004, 2008 and 2009 entries come from the Service Annual Survey.
The 2010 ATRI cost-per-hour series is not directly comparable with per-mile or annual-expense measures. These historical figures are reported in Table 42, Selected Data on Trucking Operating Expense, and changing surveys, classifications and units limit cross-series comparisons.