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Trucking By the Numbers

To understand how Transportation is defined and how it impacts the domestic US economy we first must understand the different components and how it all works together. Since most of this data is being updated on a continual basis, the data complied here will be a mixture of 2021, 2022 and 2023 information. The below data breaks out components to help explain the size and data drivers behind our current Truckload demographics and market size. As we move into 2025 these numbers will help us determine when and how much the market and capacity will fluctuate and the impact to budgets and companies’ financials.

Trucking is the backbone of the American Supply Chain

  • 1.86 million companies operate a semi-truck, straight truck, or other hazmat truck.
  • There are 13 million trucks registered in the US, 2.9 million of which are semi-trucks.
  • In 2022, the trucking industry did $940.8 billion in gross freight revenue.

Vehicle Statistics

            When we speak about trucking, we must know how many and what type of trucks. There are many classifications and understanding this data can start to identify the size and scale of the transportation industry.

  • There are 13.5 million trucks registered in the US. Of this figure, 2.97 million are tractor-trailers and 10.5 million are single-unit trucks (aka straight trucks).
  • The 13.5 million truck statistic above only includes trucks with a gross vehicle weight of over 10,000 pounds. There are an additional 48 million pickups and 75k light trucks (anything under 10k pounds that is not categorized as a pickup or other vehicle type) in the US.
  • There are 2.97 million semi-trucks (class8) registered in the US. (Class 8 trucks are defined as Heavy Duty trucks that haul between 33,001 to 80,000 LBS.)
  • 476,000 commercial trucks were sold in 2022. Of those, more than 29,000 were Class 8 trucks.
  • Federal guidelines require all states to allow semi-trucks to haul trailers of at least 48 feet.

Driver Statistics

The American truck driver has seen dramatic changes and challenges over the past years. Back in the 1970’s after regulation, many people bought and drove their own equipment. They are known as owner-operators, men and women that wanted to be their own boss and see the country. In recent years the Over-the-Road (OTR) market has changed, with drivers wanting more home time and consumer expectations for 2-day (next day) delivery increasing. This has created more regional routes and will attract new drivers with benefits such as more vacation time and increased pay and home time. Here are a few data points that help to illustrate size and complexion of the trucking industry job market.

  • There are 3.5 million truck drivers in the US. This figure includes both employee and self-employed drivers of semi-trucks and other truck types.
  • Of this figure, 1.98 million employee truck drivers operate heavy and tractor-trailer vehicles. This figure does not include self-employed truck drivers, only employee drivers.

  • There are 587,000 self-employed truck drivers, commonly referred to as owner operators.
  • 351,000 of these owner-operators are classified as long-distance truckers.
  • Roughly 16% of all truck drivers are owner operators.
  • Truck drivers earned a median salary of $49,920 in 2022.
    • Note: The above figure only includes employee drivers operating heavy and tractor-trailer vehicles. Employee Drivers operating light or delivery vehicles had a median salary of $40,410 in 2022.
  • In 2021, contracted owner operators were paid an average of $1.81 per mile.

  • Compared to other professions, truck drivers are much more likely to be male, have a high school diploma or some college, and be a veteran. Truckers are also more likely to have no health insurance and more likely to work more than 40 hours per week.

Trucking Company Statistics

The term trucking company is a broad term that can mean an owner operator with one truck, a private fleet of 10 trucks or a large company like Knight-Swift that has 19,000 trucks, 58,000 trailers and a work force of 24,000. All of this data are backed by active Department of Transportation (DOT) registration numbers.

    • As of June 2023, there were 1.86 million companies with a tractor-trailer, straight truck, or hazmat truck. Of this figure, 1.1 million companies were for-hire trucking companies (motor carriers). The remaining companies were either private carriers or classified as “other” by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
    • When looking at just companies operating tractor-trailers, there were 774K companies, 598K of which were for-hire trucking companies.
    • Among for-hire carriers, 70% of all trucking companies only have one power unit and 97% have 10 power units or fewer.

  • FMCSA Data for Q2 of 2024 shows a net decrease of over 9,000 trucking companies that left the market, while some new companies were added more left the market to create an over decrease in the number of active companies

Market Size & Financial Statistics

Many people know that the US transportation industry is a large part of our economy but what does that mean and how does it impact our overall economy? Over the past 24 months the US transportation industry has been in rapid decline. There are trucking companies going out of business every week. On (June 20, 2024, a carrier based in Texas shut down removing 500 power units from the market. While this one example is not earth-shattering one can imagine if 10 or 100 of these companies went out of business and the economy gains momentum the impact of all those drivers/trucks/miles being removed would drive up the cost of the remaining capacity. Below are a few numbers to help understand where we are and the impact of a down transportation market.

  • The US transportation industry recorded 1.16 trillion dollars in revenue in 2022.
  • In 2022, trucking recorded $940.8 billion in gross freight revenues, making up 80.7% of the transportation industry.
  • ‍The typical for-hire trucking company has an operating profit of 7-18%. It’s important to note that operating profit is calculated by taking total revenue and subtracting out operational expenses only. The figure does not consider debt financing, interest, taxes, or other expenses. (This has changed since 2022 and many companies are not producing positive revenue.)
  • In 2021, trucking companies saw an average cost-per-mile of $1.855.
  • ‍The biggest expenses for trucking companies are driver wages followed by fuel, equipment costs, and insurance.

  • While the trucking industry saw major growth during the COVID-19 pandemic followed by a slowdown into the summer of 2023, the industry is still projected to nearly double between 2023 and 2050.
  • In 2022, roughly 72% of all freight tonnage was moved by truck, which was more than 13.1 billion tons of freight.
  • In 2020, the US imported 170 billion dollars of goods via truck from Canada and exported 196 billion dollars in goods. Trade by truck accounted for 55.2% of total trade between the US and Canada.
  • In 2020, the US imported 279 billion dollars of goods via truck from Mexico and exported 181 billion dollars in goods. This accounted for 69.7% of total trade done by land transportation between the US and Mexico.
  • As of January 1, 2023, the federal tax on a gallon of diesel was 24.40 cents. For gasoline, the federal tax was 18.40 cents per gallon.
  • The average state tax on a gallon of diesel was 33.88 cents per gallon. For gasoline, the figure was 31.63 cents per gallon.

Mileage & Fuel Consumption

Fuel is the second leading cost per mile following the driver expense. Most of the carriers and shippers will reference a Fuel Surcharge (FSC) Table using Department of Energy (DOE) averages. Shippers will set a starting amount cost per gallon and will increase an amount per every 5/6 cents per gallon. This creates an accessorial charge that is variable and can increase or decrease depending on the DOE price per gallon. If a shipper and carrier agreed to use a regional index they can (New England, West Coast, etc.), since most shippers and carriers are interstate users, most will use U.S. average.

  • In 2020, semi-trucks and single-unit trucks traveled a combined 297 billion miles.
  • In 2020, semi-trucks traveled 179.8 billion miles.
  • In 2020, semi-trucks averaged 6.2 miles per gallon.
  • In 2020, tractor-trailers consumed an average of 9,796 gallons of fuel with an average MPG of 6.2.
  • ‍In 2022, semi-trucks consumed a combined 29 billion gallons of fuel.

Example: DOE data from www.eia.gov

Conclusion

The real question is what will the next 6, 12, or 18 months look like? Over the past few months capacity has been leaving the market and this is creating some small rate increases in the spot market. Most experts are saying the rates have been bouncing on the floor, but so far, we have not seen enough data to show an upward trend. In July we did see increases in rejection rates and the FTR Trucking Conditions Index, but as normal they went back down after the July 4th holiday.  Most experts are telling us that if there are no natural disasters or impacting events like wars or election events then we should not see an increase until maybe Q3 2025. It is simple math, there is too much capacity, and it is not exiting the market fast enough to impact the overall industry. There is some data suggesting that the Emergency COVID SBA loans expiring will impact capacity which have been buoyed by those loans. If that is true then we should start seeing more capacity leaving the market as carriers feel the impact of the reduction in overall rates. Now is the time for shippers to set their vision and plan for the end of 2025. Depending on your option, capacity could slowly decrease and create a gradual increase in rates or it could hit a cliff and we will see a dramatic decrease in capacity and corresponding increase in rates. Either way the shipping community will need to act and prepare for the market adjustments we should start seeing sometime in 2025.

—Brandon Hamilton, St. Onge Company
 
 

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