How Much Do CDL Drivers Make in 2026? Pay by Week, Mile and Route

How much do CDL drivers make? Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics group most CDL drivers fall into, earned a median $58,640 a year in May 2025, about $1,128 a week. Large carriers’ October 2026 job postings advertised about $1,000 to $1,600 a week for most solo company drivers.

Jump to pay in your state for all 50 states and DC, or see our CDL-A truck driver job, which pays $900–$1,700 a week.

Say you drive a forklift in Indiana and just passed your CDL skills test. Two recruiters call: one offers 50 cents a mile, the other says its drivers average $1,400 a week. Until you know the miles, stops, waiting time and home time behind each number, you can’t tell which pays more.

This guide breaks down CDL driver pay in 2026, using the newest government wage data and the pay large carriers advertised in October 2026. It covers how drivers are paid, pay per mile and by route, first-year pay and the freight that pays more. It also covers pay in every state, whether $2,000 a week is realistic, what’s pushing pay up, owner-operator gross versus net, and how to compare two offers.

How much do CDL drivers make?

Short answer: Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers are the federal job group most CDL drivers fall into. They earned a median of $58,640 a year in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That’s $28.19 an hour, or about $1,128 a week. The middle half earned between $47,960 and $69,120.

These are the newest official figures: the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for May 2025, released in 2026, for occupation code 53-3032. They cover 2,062,040 jobs, and the mean was $59,710. Weekly pay below is the annual figure divided by 52.

Heavy and tractor-trailer truck driver pay by percentile, BLS May 2025 data (national)

Where you work matters. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, updated in August 2026, lists May 2025 medians of $60,320 in truck transportation, $58,550 in wholesale trade, $56,570 in manufacturing and $56,080 in construction. It projects employment to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 214,500 openings a year. Jobs without a CDL pay less: our box truck driver salary guide has those figures, and our non-CDL box truck driver job pays $18 to $25 an hour. Our guide to whether you need a CDL to drive a box truck shows where the 26,001-pound line falls.

Why job ads show more than the government figures

Carrier ads and industry surveys run higher than the BLS median. The American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) 2026 Driver Compensation Study was reported by Fleet Equipment on October 16, 2026. It put the 2025 median for dry van irregular-route company drivers at for-hire truckload carriers at $73,639, about $1,416 a week. ATA surveyed more than 130 fleets with over 140,000 employee drivers. And on Swift’s job board, we tallied more than 570 solo driver listings on October 29, 2026. Their advertised average weekly pay had a median of $1,400, with the middle half between $1,250 and $1,600.

How we counted: On October 29, 2026, we read every listing on Swift’s job search page. It had 610 entries, 591 after removing repeats (same title, location and pay), and 574 of them were solo jobs (we left out team jobs). Each listing shows an average weekly pay; the median is $1,400 and the middle half $1,250 to $1,600. Twelve listings, all dedicated, show $2,000. The rows are in our CSV of Swift’s solo listings, each with its Swift job ID and a link to the listing.

Roehl Transport’s truck driver pay guide gives one reason: job-posting data “runs higher because it is weighted toward positions being actively recruited.” BLS figures, by contrast, come from what employers report paying. Treat the BLS median as a baseline and carrier averages as what a full-time solo driver with steady miles can reach.

How are truck drivers paid?

Short answer: Most long-haul company drivers are paid cents per mile, often with extra pay for stops, waiting and other work. Local and some dedicated jobs pay by the hour. Some carriers pay a percentage of the load, and many guarantee new drivers a weekly minimum. How a carrier counts miles can change your check as much as the rate does.

Cents per mile

Most over-the-road (OTR) company drivers earn a set rate for each mile. Swift’s OTR job in Lewiston, Idaho, for example, figures trip pay “based on a calculation of dispatched miles” (Swift job 62098). Roehl’s guide lists the details that move the check: what counts as a mile, “whether loaded and empty miles pay at the same rate,” and how route mileage is calculated.

Practical miles vs household goods miles

Carriers count miles in different ways. Household goods (HHG) mileage is an older method that Roehl’s guide says “typically underestimates actual route distance.” Practical miles follow the route a truck actually takes. Roehl says its address-to-address practical miles pay roughly 5–8% more miles than the HHG method, so two jobs with the same rate can pay different amounts for the same trip.

Example: Hypothetical numbers. You drive 2,400 miles a week at $0.55 a mile. Suppose one carrier’s practical miles credit 5–8% more than another carrier’s HHG miles for the same trips. That’s 120 to 192 more paid miles, or about $66 to $106 a week. Over 52 weeks, it’s roughly $3,400 to $5,500.

Hourly pay

Local, home-daily and some dedicated jobs pay by the hour, so dock time and traffic count toward your pay. Roehl’s guide lists $25 to $27 an hour to start in its Marshfield Utility Fleet and $28 an hour in its Truss Fleet. Some mileage plans add hourly pay for work that isn’t driving: Schneider’s van postings pay “mileage pay, plus hourly pay while on duty, not driving” (Schneider job 251442).

Watch out: Hourly doesn’t always mean overtime after 40 hours. The Labor Department’s Fact Sheet #19 explains that the Fair Labor Standards Act “provides an overtime exemption” for workers under the Secretary of Transportation’s authority. That generally covers drivers whose interstate work is in vehicles over 10,000 pounds. At $28 an hour, a 50-hour week is $1,400 at straight time. Ask whether the carrier pays overtime anyway.

Percentage of the load

Some jobs pay a share of what the load earns. Federal leasing rules at 49 CFR 376.12 let a carrier pay a leased owner-operator “a percentage of gross revenue, a flat rate per mile” or another agreed method. Some driver postings use percentages too. A July 2026 Blue Ridge Haulers flatbed posting in Florence, Alabama, now closed, offered “27% of the gross load.” As a hypothetical, 25% of a $3,000 load is $750. Ask what the percentage is taken from and how many loads a week drivers get.

Weekly guarantees and salary

None of the large carriers we checked advertised a salary for road drivers; the closest thing is a weekly guarantee. Schneider’s van postings promise “at least $1,000 in weekly guarantee pay during your first 90 days.” Swift says that since July 13, 2026, eligible OTR company drivers are guaranteed $1,000 a week during their first 90 days of solo driving (Swift job 61586). Guarantees come with conditions; Roehl’s guide notes that some use a rolling average and some require 100% availability or no performance issues such as late deliveries.

Stop, detention and layover pay

Activity or accessorial pay covers work that isn’t miles. Swift’s and Knight’s postings list $15 stop pay, and CRST’s dedicated postings pay $20 and $30 per stop. Nussbaum Transportation raised its activity pay from $20 to $23 per pickup, delivery or stop-off, Heavy Duty Trucking reported on September 23, 2026. Its detention pay rose from $20 to $25 an hour, starting after one hour. ATA found that 74% of the for-hire truckload carriers it surveyed paid drivers for excessive waiting time. Roehl lists layover days as activity pay, but few postings publish a layover amount, so ask.

How much do truck drivers make per mile?

Short answer: Large carriers’ October 2026 postings advertise about 43 to 80 cents a mile for solo company drivers. Swift lists $0.43 to $0.58 on OTR dry van and a $0.50 starting rate for new solo OTR drivers. Knight lists $0.45 to $0.63, and one CRST dedicated account pays $0.80. Your weekly pay depends just as much on miles.

Advertised rates on the carriers’ own pages, checked October 29, 2026:

• Swift: $0.43 to $0.58 a mile on OTR dry van and reefer. A site banner reads “Earn Starting at $0.50 CPM for New Solo OTR Drivers” (Swift jobs 62098 and 61586).
• Knight: $0.45 to $0.63 a mile “depending on route and experience,” with its Dallas dedicated regional job at $0.52 a mile and a $1,550 average week (Knight’s Dallas posting).
• CRST: $0.80 a mile on a dedicated account that asks for 3–6 months of experience (CRST job 265859), and $0.63 on another dedicated job (CRST job 227433).
• Roehl’s summary of the market: OTR rates “at most major carriers run $0.45 to $0.75 per mile for experienced company drivers, with flatbed and specialized freight reaching $0.85 or higher.”

Miles turn a rate into a paycheck. Roehl’s national OTR fleets aim for 2,300 to 2,600 miles a week and its regional fleets average 2,100 to 2,300. Federal hours-of-service rules at 49 CFR 395.3 allow 11 hours of driving in a 14-hour window after 10 hours off. They also bar driving after 60 hours on duty in 7 days, or 70 in 8.

Three worked weeks, using advertised rates and our own mile counts as examples:

• New OTR driver: 2,300 miles × $0.50 = $1,150, plus two stops at $15 = $1,180.
• Experienced dedicated driver: 2,000 miles × $0.80 = $1,600, plus five stops at $20 = $1,700, in line with the $1,700 to $1,800 CRST says drivers on that account average.
• A slow week: 1,800 miles × $0.50 = $900. A $1,000 weekly guarantee, if you meet its conditions, adds $100.

To try your own numbers, enter a rate, your weekly miles and any stop, detention or other pay in the calculator below.

Weekly pay calculator: cents per mile

Cents per mileMiles a weekOther pay a week ($)

Weekly pay: $1,100.00 · Over 52 weeks: $57,200

Gross pay before taxes. The example is 55 cents a mile for 2,000 miles: $1,100. Other pay is stop, detention, layover or bonus pay that week. Ask whether a carrier pays practical miles or shorter household-goods miles.

How much do OTR, regional, dedicated, local and team drivers make?

Short answer: Large carriers’ October 2026 postings put most OTR, regional and local company drivers between about $1,000 and $1,600 a week. Dedicated accounts and team runs reach $1,600 to $2,000. Regional pay varies the most. These are advertised averages, not guarantees, and they move with miles and experience.

Advertised company driver pay by route type, from carriers’ own pages, checked October 29, 2026

Swift medians are our tally of its more than 570 solo listings, some under two route types; Roehl’s are fleet averages from its pay guide, updated August 6, 2026. Our CDL-A truck driver job recruits for OTR, regional, local and dedicated routes in dry van, reefer and flatbed, so tell the recruiter which row you want.

OTR truck driver pay

OTR drivers haul across many states and stay out for weeks. Schneider’s van truckload drivers average $1,140 to $1,400 a week, according to its solo driving page. Roehl’s guide says OTR drivers may run more miles per week than regional drivers, and Swift’s listings fit that: an OTR median of $1,500 against $1,300 for regional.

Regional pay

Regional pay has the widest spread. Schneider’s regional van job in Jacksonville, Florida lists $790 to $970 a week with weekly home time, while Roehl’s Flatbed Central fleet averages $1,580. Roehl’s regional drivers get 48 hours at home every week.

Dedicated pay

Dedicated drivers run the same customer or lanes every week. ATA’s 2026 study found dedicated dry van drivers continue to earn more on average than irregular-route drivers, with their pay up 4.2% from 2023. Knight’s Dallas dedicated job, for drivers with at least six months of OTR experience, lists $80,600 a year on average.

How much do local truck drivers make?

Local CDL drivers sleep at home every night. Swift’s local listings show a median of $1,325 a week, Roehl’s Chicago and Dallas Van Metro fleets average $1,430, and its home-daily packaging fleet averages $1,340. ATA’s study put local less-than-truckload (LTL) drivers at a median of $72,942 a year, about $1,403 a week.

Team pay

Team drivers share one truck so it can keep moving. Schneider’s team page lists averages of $1,320 to $1,620 per driver per week in van truckload and $1,630 to $1,990 per driver in dedicated.

Tip: Ask which number you’re being quoted. One Swift reefer job in Augusta, Georgia headlines $1,400 a week. Its details say “Top 25% of Refrigerated OTR drivers at the Atlanta terminal average $1400 weekly.” Ask for the fleet’s average for drivers with your experience, not the top quarter’s.

How much do first-year truck drivers make?

Short answer: Plan on roughly $865 to $1,250 a week in your first year as a solo company driver. Roehl puts industry-wide first-year pay at $45,000 to $65,000, and big carriers guarantee new drivers about $1,000 a week for their first 90 days. Training weeks pay less, about $616 to $900 a week at the carriers we checked.

Most new drivers go through two stages. First comes training, which pays less:

• Roehl pays $616 a week during three weeks of CDL training, with no tuition.
• U.S. Xpress pays $650 to $850 a week during training, and its recent graduates spend 4 to 5 weeks with a driver trainer.
• Prime pays at least $900 a week during its training phase, as long as you’re available for dispatch.

Then you drive solo, usually with the $1,000 weekly guarantees from Schneider and Swift described above. For comparison, the BLS 25th percentile is about $922 a week.

Experience pays. Roehl’s experienced driver page, updated October 26, 2026, says drivers with at least a year on the job averaged $1,435 a week in September 2026, nearly $74,620 a year.

Age limits your first job, too: 49 CFR 391.11 requires interstate commercial drivers to be at least 21. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot, which let some under-21 drivers run interstate, ended November 7, 2025. ATA asked FMCSA in January 2026 for an exemption so former pilot carriers could keep training them. As of October 29, 2026, we found no decision in the Federal Register.

If you’re still getting your license, our guide on how to become a truck driver covers the permit, training and skills test. Our CDL-A job welcomes new CDL holders; new drivers typically start at about $900 to $1,250 a week, depending on the carrier and route. If you want to drive for pay before you have a CDL, our non-CDL box truck driver job pays $18 to $25 an hour with a regular driver’s license.

Which endorsements and freight pay more?

Short answer: Tanker, intermodal, flatbed and less-than-truckload (LTL) linehaul jobs pay more than plain dry van. Schneider’s solo tanker and intermodal drivers average $1,490 to $1,820 a week, against $1,140 to $1,400 in van, and ATA puts the LTL linehaul median at $85,000 a year. Endorsements open several of those jobs.

Freight type changes pay within one company. On Schneider’s solo page, tanker and intermodal drivers average $1,490 to $1,820 a week. At Roehl, flatbed OTR averages $1,495 a week, refrigerated $1,425 and van $1,305; Roehl’s guide says flatbed pays most because of the tarping, securement and loading work.

ATA’s 2026 study found LTL linehaul drivers earned a median of $85,000 in 2025, about $1,635 a week, and local LTL drivers $72,942. At private carriers, it said, tank-truck and refrigerated drivers earned more than dedicated dry van drivers, who topped $75,000.

Endorsements are extra tests on your CDL. Under 49 CFR 383.93, you need a separate endorsement for double or triple trailers, tank vehicles and hazardous materials, and each takes a knowledge test. The codes, set in 49 CFR 383.153, are T, N and H, with X for tank and hazmat together. A hazmat endorsement also needs a Transportation Security Administration security threat assessment under 49 CFR 383.141. Roehl’s guide says hazmat, tanker and doubles/triples endorsements “open higher-paying freight lanes and dedicated positions not available to drivers without them.” No source we checked puts a dollar figure on a single endorsement, so treat one as a door to better-paying jobs, not a raise on its own.

Which states pay truck drivers the most?

Short answer: Alaska paid heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers the most in May 2025, with a median of $70,100 a year, according to BLS data. Washington, the District of Columbia, New Jersey and Massachusetts came next. Louisiana had the lowest median, $49,320. Texas, the state with the most of these drivers, sat at $56,290, below the national median of $58,640.

The BLS state estimates for May 2025 (the state_M2025_dl.xlsx file, occupation 53-3032) give pay for every state. The 10 highest medians were Alaska ($70,100), Washington ($64,760), the District of Columbia ($64,170), New Jersey ($63,570) and Massachusetts ($63,030). Next came Nevada ($62,290), New York ($62,050), Minnesota ($61,990), Oregon ($61,980) and Colorado ($61,500). The table lists all 50 states and DC in alphabetical order, with the number of heavy truck driver jobs in each.

Heavy and tractor-trailer truck driver pay in every state and DC, median wages and employment, BLS May 2025 data

Ranked by mean wage, the order changes a little. Alaska ($69,520), Washington ($68,230), the District of Columbia ($67,710), New Jersey ($66,770) and New York ($65,780) lead, against a national mean of $59,710. Louisiana ($51,930), West Virginia ($52,440) and New Mexico ($53,100) have the lowest means. Texas (209,680 jobs) and California (205,090) employ the most heavy truck drivers, with means of $57,990 and $62,020. ATA’s study points the same way by region: Northeast dry van drivers led its seven regions at a median of just over $78,000.

Is $2,000 a week realistic for a CDL driver?

Short answer: Yes, but only for a small group: experienced drivers on certain dedicated accounts, team drivers and drivers who run very high miles. $2,000 a week is $104,000 a year, well above $79,380, the BLS 90th percentile for heavy truck drivers in May 2025. Few postings advertise it as an average.

On October 29, 2026, 12 of the more than 570 solo listings on Swift’s job board advertised $2,000 a week, all of them dedicated jobs. One CRST dedicated job posted October 15, 2026 guarantees $2,000 a week for the first 60 days and says drivers average $2,200. It asks for 3 months of experience and pays $0.63 a mile and $30 a stop. Schneider’s dedicated team drivers average up to $1,990 each.

The math shows why it’s rare. At $0.60 a mile, $2,000 takes about 3,334 miles a week. The highest weekly mileage goal in Roehl’s guide is 2,800, and hours-of-service limits cap how far a solo driver can go. At $0.80 a mile, you’d need 2,500 miles, which is why $2,000 jobs tend to be high-rate dedicated accounts.

Read the wording on any big number. “Top drivers earn” and “up to” are not averages: Schneider says its top dedicated drivers average $111,000 a year, while its dedicated drivers overall average $1,180 to $1,440 a week.

What is changing truck driver pay in 2025 and 2026?

Short answer: Driver pay kept rising through the freight downturn, and tighter rules on who can drive are shrinking the driver pool. ATA’s 2026 study found the median dry van driver’s pay up 8.3% from 2023, and FMCSA expects about 194,000 non-domiciled CDL holders to leave the freight market. Analysts disagree on how fast that lifts pay.

Pay data. ATA’s study, as reported by Fleet Equipment, found the $73,639 dry van median was up 8.3% from 2023. A majority of carriers said they plan to raise pay again in 2026. “Driver pay continued to move higher even as carriers faced one of the longest and most difficult freight downturns in recent memory,” ATA chief economist Bob Costello said. The median signing bonus fell by $500, to $2,000, “as the driver market became less competitive.”

Payroll data shows a recent peak. The Superior Trucking Payroll Service Driver Pay Index tracks gross pay, including per diem, for W-2 drivers at small and midsize carriers. It hit a record 170.04 in June 2026 (January 2020 = 100) and eased to 154.13 by September, The Trucker reported on October 27, 2026. DAT’s Dean Croke called the dip “a pause.” He said a sustained increase “has to happen because of the tightening of driver standards around English language proficiency and immigration status, but more so on the CDL training school side of the ledger.”

Carrier raises. Roehl’s second raise of 2026 took effect October 4 for most company drivers, and Nussbaum raised detention, stop and trainer pay, Heavy Duty Trucking reported.

English proficiency. Since June 25, 2025, a driver who fails a roadside English check is put out of service. FMCSA’s August 2026 proposed rule counts 19,045 English proficiency out-of-service orders between June 25, 2025 and March 19, 2026. Comments closed October 9, 2026. Our English proficiency guide explains the roadside test.

Non-domiciled CDLs. FMCSA’s final rule, in effect since March 16, 2026, limits non-domiciled CDLs to H-2A, H-2B and E-2 status. FMCSA estimates there are roughly 200,000 non-domiciled CDL holders, about 5% of the 3.8 million active interstate CDL holders in 2024. It expects about 194,000 to exit the freight market over approximately five years as their credentials come up for renewal. The D.C. Circuit refused to pause the rule on May 5, 2026, while the challenge continues.

How much it matters. In Heavy Duty Trucking in December 2025, C.H. Robinson’s Michael Castagnetto said “none of those factors individually would put much of a dent in trucking capacity.” FTR’s Avery Vise, though, said the non-domiciled crackdown “could have more of an effect” than English enforcement. Our roundup of FMCSA rule changes in 2026 tracks each rule’s status.

Company driver or owner-operator: who makes more?

Short answer: Owner-operators gross far more than company drivers, but the gross has to pay for the truck, fuel, insurance and repairs. ATA found leased-on contractors at truckload carriers grossed a median of more than $170,000 in 2025. A company driver’s gross is wages, and the carrier pays for the truck and fuel.

At private fleets, ATA found, leased-on contractors grossed more than $200,000. Roehl’s guide says its flatbed owner-operators average about $3,660 a week in gross revenue, over $190,000 a year, but “gross and net are very different for an owner-operator.” It estimates that fuel, insurance, equipment, permits and maintenance “typically total $100,000–$150,000/year for a single-truck operation,” leaving net income “usually” in the $80,000 to $130,000 range. Those are Roehl’s estimates, not a survey.

Taxes differ too. The IRS self-employment tax is 15.3% (12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare) on net self-employment earnings of $400 or more.

What a weekly gross has to cover, company driver vs owner-operator

The lease rows follow 49 CFR 376.12, which makes a lease spell out who pays for fuel, permits, tolls, empty miles and insurance beyond the carrier’s public liability coverage.

Weighing your own truck? Our guides to starting a box truck business, hotshot trucking requirements and choosing a truck dispatch company cover authority, insurance and startup costs.

Our take: Compare net to net. A $3,300 weekly gross is not more than a $1,400 company paycheck until you’ve subtracted every cost in the table above. A new owner-operator with no cushion carries the risk of a slow month or a major repair alone.

How do you compare two CDL job offers?

Short answer: Compare offers on the weekly pay a driver like you actually earns, not on the cents-per-mile rate alone. Ask each recruiter for the fleet’s average weekly pay, typical miles, how miles are counted, what extra work pays, when detention starts, the guarantee’s conditions and the home time. Then run the same math for both.

Ask every recruiter the same questions:

1. What do drivers with my experience average per week in this fleet, not the top 25%?
2. How many miles a week do they run, and are miles practical, HHG or dispatched? Do loaded and empty miles pay the same?
3. When does detention pay start, and at what hourly rate?
4. What do stops, layovers, tarping, hand unloads and breakdowns pay?
5. Is there a weekly guarantee? How much, for how long, and what are the conditions?
6. Is there a bonus, and how is it paid out?
7. What’s the home time, and does it change in the first months?
8. Which benefits are offered, and when do they start?
9. Is part of the pay per diem, and is it included in the weekly average you’re quoting?

Example: Two hypothetical offers. Offer A pays $0.55 a mile on 2,200 miles a week with no detention pay: $1,210. Offer B pays $0.50 a mile on 2,500 miles, plus 3 paid detention hours at $25 and 2 stops at $20: $1,250 + $75 + $40 = $1,365. The lower rate pays $155 more a week, or about $8,060 a year.

Do truck driving job ads have to show pay?

Short answer: In a growing list of states, yes. California, Washington, New York and, since July 1, 2026, Virginia are among the states that require a pay range in job postings. Each sets its own rules on employer size. A posted range lets you compare jobs before you apply, but it isn’t a promise of your exact weekly pay.

• California: Employers with 15 or more employees, at least one in California, must post a “good faith estimate” of the pay range, California’s Labor Commissioner says. Piece-rate jobs post the piece-rate range instead. A third party publishing the posting must include the range. That covers jobs that may ever be filled in California.
• Washington: Employers with 15 or more employees must post a wage scale or salary range plus a general description of benefits and other pay (Department of Labor & Industries).
• New York: Employers with four or more employees must post the salary or hourly range and say if the job is commission-based (Labor Department).
• Virginia: Since July 1, 2026, “all job postings and hiring advertisements in Virginia must include a wage or salary range,” according to the state’s Department of Labor and Industry.

Cents-per-mile pay works like piece-rate pay, so if a posting gives only a rate, ask what weekly range it works out to. Our state-by-state guide to pay transparency laws covers the other states and the remote-job rules, and every job on our careers page shows its pay range before you apply.

What to do next

1. Use the BLS median of about $1,128 a week as your baseline and the carrier averages above as the target for a full-time solo job.
2. Pick your route type first, since home time drives the rest.
3. Ask every recruiter the nine questions in How do you compare two CDL job offers? and write the answers side by side.
4. If you’re new, look for a weekly guarantee and real training, and read the guarantee’s conditions.
5. Run the weekly math for each offer, stops and detention included, before you compare cents per mile.

Ready to compare real offers? Our CDL-A truck driver job pays $900–$1,700 a week depending on the carrier, the route and your experience, and one short application reaches several carriers.