How Much Does a Truck Driver Make?

What This Job Pays Right Now

The median annual wage for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers was $58,640 in May 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). That works out to a median hourly wage of $28.19 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025).

Pay rose year over year. The same federal survey put the median at $57,440 a year and $27.62 an hour in May 2024, so the 2025 figure is a gain of about 2.1 percent on both measures.

The median is only the midpoint of a wide distribution. In May 2024, the lowest-paid 10 percent of heavy and tractor-trailer drivers earned less than $38,640 a year and the highest-paid 10 percent earned more than $78,800 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The gap between those two ends is driven mainly by experience, endorsements held, and the state and industry you drive in — each of which is broken out in the tables below.

One thing the annual figures hide: many driving jobs are not paid by the hour at all. Mileage pay (cents per mile), percentage-of-load pay, per-stop or per-delivery pay, and straight salary are all common, and which one you get varies by employer and by whether you run local, regional or over-the-road. Federal wage data converts all of these into annual and hourly equivalents, so treat the hourly figures as a comparison tool rather than a rate you will see on a settlement sheet. For current numbers, check the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics tables, which publish national, state and metro figures each year.

Pay by Experience Level

Federal wage data does not sort drivers by years behind the wheel, so the bands below pair published wage percentiles with recruitment-industry estimates for new drivers. Read the row labels as approximations, not rules.

One recruitment-focused estimate puts first-year CDL pay lower still, at $35,000–$45,000, with increases at the six-month mark and again at one year (CDL Study Buddy). The gap between that $35,000 figure and the $48,000 start reported by Lugg (2026) reflects job type: local and regional work with home time most nights typically pays less at the start than over-the-road runs that keep you out for weeks.

The practical top end to plan around is $78,800 a year — the 90th percentile in May 2024 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) — generally reached by experienced drivers in specialised freight such as tanker, hazmat or heavy haul, or by owner-operators whose figures include business revenue rather than wages.

Pay by State or Metro Area

Geography moves driver pay by roughly $16,000 a year from top to bottom. The figures below are annual mean wages.

New Jersey's $67,630 sits at the top partly because of port and intermodal freight volume around Newark, but housing and insurance costs in the state's commuter counties absorb much of the difference — compare the figure to local rents before treating it as a raise. Louisiana's $51,310 is the lowest on this list, though living costs there are among the lower ones in the country, so the gap in take-home purchasing power is narrower than the $16,320 difference in gross pay suggests.

State averages also hide metro variation. Port cities, oilfield regions and dense distribution corridors generally pay above their state average, while rural long-haul lanes pay closer to the bottom of it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes metro-level wage estimates for this occupation, which is the place to check your own market.

Pay by Employer Type or Industry

Who employs you matters more than most drivers expect. These are median annual wages for heavy and tractor-trailer drivers in the four largest employing industries.

The spread from truck transportation to construction is $4,240 a year at the median — real, but smaller than the $16,320 state-to-state gap. In truck transportation specifically, the median hourly wage was $29.00 and the mean hourly wage $29.59, with mean annual pay of $61,540 against the $60,320 median (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025); the mean sitting above the median tells you a minority of high earners pulls the average up.

Vehicle class is a separate decision with a bigger effect than industry. Light truck drivers had a median of $44,860 a year and driver/sales workers $38,770 a year in May 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) — $13,780 and $19,870 below the $58,640 heavy and tractor-trailer median respectively.

What Actually Moves Your Pay

• Hazmat endorsement. Estimated to add $5,000–$10,000 a year, described as the biggest single earner among endorsements (CDL Study Buddy).
• Hazmat plus tanker (the X combination). Reported to be worth $8,000–$15,000 a year more than holding neither endorsement (CDL Study Buddy), or a 15–30 percent increase by qualifying you for fuel and chemical tanker routes (Advanced.edu).
• Sign-on bonuses. Commonly $5,000 to $15,000 for new over-the-road hires, usually tied to a 12-to-24-month retention commitment, so the money arrives in instalments rather than up front (Lugg, 2026).
• Your first-year milestones. First-year CDL pay is estimated at $35,000–$45,000, with increases at six months and again at twelve (CDL Study Buddy) — staying put through the second bump is worth more than switching carriers before it.
• The state you base in. $67,630 average annual in New Jersey against $51,310 in Louisiana, a $16,320 difference for the same occupation (Geotab, 2026, compiled from BLS OEWS May 2024 data).
• Industry choice. Truck transportation pays a median of $60,320 a year versus $56,080 in construction, a $4,240 gap (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025).
• Vehicle class. Moving from light truck work at a $44,860 median to heavy and tractor-trailer work at a $58,640 median is a $13,780 difference in median annual pay (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025).
• Reaching the top decile. The 90th percentile was $78,800 a year in May 2024, about $20,160 above the national median (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) — the realistic ceiling for employed drivers before you move into owner-operator or specialised heavy haul work.

Shift differentials, overtime rules and union contract scales also vary by employer and by state. Those terms change what the same job pays in the same city, so ask for the pay package in writing — rate basis, accessorial pay, detention pay and benefits — before comparing two offers.