Truck Driver Salary by State, Ranked From the Newest Federal Data

Washington pays heavy truck drivers more than any other state in the lower 48. Its average was $68,230 a year in the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for May 2025, the newest federal numbers available this fall. Louisiana came last at $51,930. So the whole truck driver salary by state map fits into one gap of $16,300, and the national average sits between them at $59,710, or $28.71 an hour.

Washington leads the 48-state ranking at $68,230

The table ranks every contiguous state by the average annual wage BLS reports for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers. The median sits next to it. A few big private fleets can pull an average up. The last column shows how many drivers the survey counted in each state. Alaska and Hawaii are left off, along with the District of Columbia.

Five of the top ten are western states. Three more are in the Northeast (New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts), and the last two are in the Upper Midwest, Minnesota and North Dakota. The bottom of the list runs through the South. By the Census Bureau's map, seven of the ten lowest averages belong to southern states, and New Mexico, Maine and Michigan are the exceptions.

Half of all drivers earn less than $58,640

The median is the middle paycheck. Half of the 2,062,040 drivers in the survey earn more than $58,640 a year, half earn less. The average runs a little higher, at $59,710, because the top earners stretch it.

The spread inside the job is wider than the spread between states. BLS puts the 10th percentile at $40,140 and the 90th at $79,380. A quarter of drivers earn under $47,960, and a quarter earn more than $69,120. That's a $39,240 gap between the low and high ends of one profession, more than twice the $16,300 between Washington and Louisiana. Which carrier you drive for and what kind of work you do decide more than your ZIP code.

Some states show the gap in miniature. In Arkansas the average beats the median by $5,840, the widest difference on the list, so a smaller group of high earners lifts the average there. Michigan and Maine run the other way, with medians above their averages.

The survey counts payroll jobs where the employer is

The numbers come from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, which asks employers, not drivers. A driver is counted at the establishment that employs them. If you live in Ohio and run out of a terminal in Illinois, your wage most likely lands in the Illinois column.

One code covers all heavy truck work. Local delivery, regional runs, OTR, tankers, flatbeds and reefers sit in the same number, and BLS doesn't split them by freight or by length of haul. Owner-operators who run their own business aren't in it at all.

Each estimate also blends six semiannual survey panels collected over three years, with older answers adjusted to the May 2025 wage level. Straight-time pay counts, and so do production bonuses. Overtime premiums, year-end bonuses and other bonuses not tied to production are left out. A fast raise this year shows up in the survey slowly.

A newer number comes from carriers' own books. ATRI's 2026 Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking, released in July 2026, put driver wages at 81.8 cents per mile in 2025, up 2.5% from 79.8 cents in 2024, while inflation ran 2.7%. It was the second year in a row that driver wages grew slower than prices. That figure is a fleet's whole wage bill divided by all the miles its trucks ran, averaged over many kinds of operations, so it describes cost, not a rate anyone posts on a job ad.

The hourly figure assumes a 40-hour week

BLS lists the average as $28.71 an hour. Don't read that as what a driver earns for each hour behind the wheel. BLS ties its hourly and yearly figures together with a 2,080-hour year, which is 52 weeks of 40 hours. Multiply $28.71 by 2,080 and you land on the $59,710 average.

OTR weeks are longer. The hours-of-service cycle lets a driver work up to 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days, and a driver who used the full 70 hours every 8 days all year would earn about $18.75 an hour on $59,710. Few drivers run a maxed cycle every week. Still, compare offers by the week and by the mile, not by a made-up hourly rate. The full limits are in our guide to hours of service rules.

A yearly pay quote needs three numbers behind it

Recruiters like round yearly figures. Ask what sits under them. Three numbers do the work: the rate per mile, the average paid miles per week over the last 12 months for drivers on that account, and the number of weeks the figure assumes.

Run it backward. An $80,000 quote over 48 working weeks means $1,667 a week. At 65 cents a mile, that needs about 2,560 paid miles every week, slow months included. If the carrier's drivers average 2,200 paid miles in spring, the real year comes in lower, around $68,600. More questions worth asking before you sign are in questions to ask a trucking recruiter.

Texas and California employ the most drivers

Six states hold 782,500 of the country's 2,062,040 heavy truck drivers, about 38%. Texas leads with 209,680 and California follows with 205,090. Florida has 112,920, Pennsylvania 87,550, Illinois 84,200 and Ohio 83,060.

Big doesn't mean best paid. Texas ranks 32nd at $57,990 and Florida 45th at $54,850, while California sits 12th at $62,020. Illinois is 11th with $62,430. ASTEL runs out of a yard in Chicago, so that's the state number we watch closest, and it lands about $2,700 above the national average.

Prices change what a state's average buys

A dollar doesn't go as far in New Jersey as it does in Iowa. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures that with regional price parities, where 100 is the national price level. In its February 2026 release for 2024, California was the most expensive state at 110.7 and New Jersey third at 108.8. Arkansas was the cheapest at 86.9, followed by Mississippi at 87.0, with Iowa and Oklahoma tied at 87.8.

Divide the wage by the price level and the order shifts. California's $62,020 buys about what $56,000 buys in an average-priced state, and New Jersey's $66,770 comes to about $61,400. Iowa's $60,070 is worth about $68,400, and Arkansas's $57,390 about $66,000. The years don't match exactly, prices for 2024 against wages for May 2025, so treat this as a rough guide. Housing drives most of it. BEA's rent index ran from 54.2 in West Virginia to 154.3 in California.

On an OTR job the offer outweighs the state

Long-haul pay is set per mile by the carrier, and an OTR truck spends most of its month outside the state where it is based. The state average tells you about the local market. The offer tells you about your year.

Do the math on the offer. Take the cents per mile, multiply by the paid miles you can expect in a normal week, then by the weeks you'll actually work. At 60 cents and 2,500 paid miles a week, a driver grosses $1,500 a week, or $72,000 over 48 weeks. At 70 cents and 2,800 paid miles, the same 48 weeks come to $94,080, well above Washington's average.

Paid miles are where offers quietly differ. A carrier that counts household-goods miles pays for fewer miles than the road actually covers, and some don't pay for empty miles to the next pickup at all. The difference between practical and household miles is laid out in which miles actually get paid, and the settlement lines that hide short pay are in how to read a trucking settlement.

Home time takes weeks out of the year too. The usual industry pattern is about one day home for every 2–4 days on the road, so 52 weeks of pay on paper can turn into 40-something weeks of driving. Our piece on truck driver home time shows how schedules split the year. This year's carrier raises are covered in truck driver pay increases in 2026.

First-year pay brackets the national median

A first year without experience usually pays $55,000–$75,000. That range wraps around the national median of $58,640 and stays well above the 25th percentile of $47,960. The low end is where most new drivers start.

Getting there takes time and money up front. CDL school runs 1–3 months, and the price depends on the school and on whether a carrier pays for it, as broken down in how much CDL school costs. Insurers and many carriers then ask for 1–2 years of experience, which is why rookies get fewer offers. The jobs that do take new drivers are listed in truck driving jobs with no experience.

ASTEL pays by the mile and counts every one

ASTEL pays a flat $0.80 per mile for drivers with 1+ year of experience. Drivers get two pay raises in their first year with the company, and our top drivers earn 90 cents a mile. Every mile of the trip is paid, loaded and empty, counted ZIP-to-ZIP by PC*Miler.

The work follows the reefer season. From August through March, trucks run 3,500–3,700 miles a week. April–July brings shorter runs and more stops, and the company adds pay for short miles to drivers who meet expectations. Pay goes out weekly. Open positions are on our nationwide truck driving jobs page.

BLS expects about 214,500 openings a year through 2035

The Occupational Outlook Handbook counts 2,221,200 heavy truck driving jobs in 2025, a wider count than the wage survey because it includes the self-employed. BLS projects 4% growth by 2035, about 83,800 more jobs. Most of the 214,500 openings it expects each year come from drivers who retire or move to other work, not from new trucks. For the bigger picture on whether the job is worth it, see is truck driving worth it in 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Which state pays truck drivers the most?

Washington, with an average of $68,230 a year for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in the BLS survey for May 2025. New Jersey ($66,770) and New York ($65,780) come next among the 48 contiguous states, followed by Nevada and Oregon.

What is the average truck driver salary in the US?

BLS puts the national average for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers at $59,710 a year, or $28.71 an hour, as of May 2025. The median is $58,640, so half of all drivers earn less than that and half earn more.

Which state pays truck drivers the least?

Among the 48 contiguous states, Louisiana has the lowest average at $51,930 a year, followed by West Virginia at $52,440 and New Mexico at $53,100, according to the BLS survey for May 2025. Lower prices in many of these states offset part of the gap.

Does the state you live in change OTR truck driver pay?

Usually less than the offer does. OTR pay is set per mile by the carrier, so cents per mile, paid miles per week and weeks worked decide the year. State averages from BLS mix local, regional and long-haul jobs and count drivers where their employer is based.

How much do truck drivers make in their first year?

A first year without experience usually pays $55,000–$75,000. For comparison, the BLS national median for all heavy truck drivers is $58,640, and a quarter of drivers earn under $47,960.

Sources: American Transportation Research Institute, Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking: 2026 Update (July 2026); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 national and state estimates for occupation 53-3032 (heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers), via the BLS public data API, and OEWS technical notes on survey panels and wage definitions; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers, 2025–35 projections; U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Real Personal Income and Regional Price Parities by State, 2024 (released February 19, 2026); U.S. Census Bureau regional divisions. Current as of October 2026; wages, prices and pay rates may change. State figures are survey estimates for all heavy truck drivers, not offers. Pay and mileage figures describe ASTEL driver ranges, not guarantees.