Average Starting Pay For Truck Drivers - Truck driver compensation is highly variable due to several factors. More experience, challenging loads, maintaining a clean driving record, willing to take risks and travel to distant places are some characteristics of a driver who earns a higher than average salary.
For example, a hazmat driver transporting hazardous and toxic materials must drive their commercial vehicle with extra care and vigilance. A hazardous materials accident, even a minor one, could cause entire cities to be evacuated. A material leak or, worse, an explosion could occur and cause a mass incident or environmental damage.
Average Starting Pay For Truck Drivers
When you compare the risks of hauling hazmat to the average dry van load of toilet paper, it's easy to see why a hazmat driver needs to be more safety conscious and gets more than average compensation. However, if transporting hazardous materials is not your thing, you have other options besides transporting hazardous materials to increase your salary.
Top Trucking Companies That Train (and Pay)
Truck driver wages vary by region, type of equipment and experience level of the driver. The average for mid-career drivers is around $45,000 to $60,000 annually. Depending on the company and with several years of safe driving, a driver can earn up to $70,000 or more. Drivers willing to train for additional endorsements and accept increased risk or time spent in remote locations can push their earnings much higher than average. We'll get into that later.
Actually, it lists the salary as $247,850, but that varies a lot and doesn't take all factors into account. For example, an owner-operator cannot be classified as a job for the purposes of a site like Indeed, and rightly so. These drivers are much, much more than your average salaried employee. They are business owners who run a trucking company, even if they only have one truck.
An owner-operator's responsibilities cover the full range of a trucking company's operations, from managing expenses to finding loads to paying employee insurance, benefits and wages. The sky's the limit for owner-operators, and their net pay ultimately depends on the amount of work they're willing (or able) to take on.
But an owner-operator doesn't have to go it alone. Owner-Operators with 2.5 years or more experience are eligible to work with . We offer owner-operators complete freedom to manage their business and the supporting power of a leading operator, giving them access to hundreds of managed uploads.
Working As A Trucker
For owner-operators who want to drive under our authority, we offer our Flex program. Once a driver is approved and downloads the app, they are ready to accept the loads they like and start earning.. Drivers who signed up with an average net income of $20,000 per month and get paid in minutes instead of Mondays with our CT Cash. card Ready to learn more? Go to Basics.
Driving on ice roads became a famous niche in the trucking industry when the History Channel launched the show: Ice Road Truckers. As presented in the television show, these drivers operate in the wilderness of Canada's deep northern latitudes. They take huge risks as they traverse difficult terrain and dangerous road conditions to deliver goods to distant cities and mining operations. Optimum conditions for these loads exist during a few short months of the year. These drivers earn a full year's salary in that short period, giving them time to pursue other off-season opportunities or enjoy time off for a better work-life balance as a truck driver.
To become an ice truck driver, you need several years of experience and experience safely operating a wide range of equipment. It is considered one of the most difficult ways to drive a truck, but also one of the most profitable.
Oversized loads, also known as oversized loads, exceed the standard legal dimensions set by federal regulations. Therefore, oversized carriers must demonstrate a greater than average ability to handle loads such as construction equipment, wind turbines, caravans and industrial machinery. These drivers must comply with additional regulations that specify the routes and hours of the day when these loads are legally allowed to travel. As a result, an escort crew is often required, and some companies require the driver to hire their escort crew.
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Because these large items are usually quite expensive, additional insurance and other precautions are required. Greater compensation for the driver behind the wheel of these huge loads comes with the territory.
Specialty vehicles transport high value or special vehicles such as racing cars, luxury cars, collectibles and other expensive items, usually in an enclosed trailer. They must be extremely careful to avoid damaging these precious cargoes. Even when parked, these drivers must take extra precautions to ensure that another driver's carelessness does not damage the load and follow special procedures to protect against theft.
Team drivers are the pinnacle of high speed and long distance cargo delivery. A team usually consists of two drivers in the same truck who drive in shifts to keep their load moving for up to twenty-two hours a day. To get an idea of how big this difference is, consider that it usually takes a solo driver six days to drive from coast to coast. A team can make the same trip in just three days. Companies that require such high-speed delivery pay more for the service, and the driver team, in turn, earns a much higher compensation.
Some large retailers and manufacturers maintain their fleet of drivers to transport goods from their distribution centers or factories to their stores or customers. One of the most famous private fleets in America is Walmart. Their drivers enjoy higher than average wages, shorter work weeks and the best benefits packages in the business. The caveat for private fleets is their high standards for hiring drivers. Some private fleets require many years of experience and clean driving records. However, it also enjoys extremely low turnover compared to the rest of the trucking industry.
Self Driving Trucks Could Replace 90% Of Long Haul Jobs
These drivers operate massive dump trucks in mining and quarries. They must maintain a high level of productivity while working on the clock as well as operating safely in an area where smaller commercial vehicles and company equipment are present. Outside of the mining industry, you can find these trucks in certain industrial and port areas that handle raw materials and goods used at the base of our nation's industrial chain.
Because of the physics involved with fluids in large containers, something as simple as swerving or hitting the brakes too hard can cause instant disaster. A mistake with hazardous liquid cargo such as gasoline or liquid propane can result in enormous fireballs and extreme heat - often referred to as a "Viking funeral" by drivers. Deadly acids and vapors are also part of the risk package for liquid/oil tankers, and other drivers on the road often give them a wide berth. Compensation for liquid/tanker drivers reflects the hazardous loads they transport and the high level of skill they demonstrate in moving these materials safely.
As mentioned earlier, drivers of hazardous substances must be on high alert. Their cargoes consist of hazardous and highly toxic materials. Any accident has a high potential to trigger a disaster that leads to loss of life, long and expensive cleanups and lost profits for the driver and the company. Drug-impaired drivers must also pass a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) background investigation, maintain additional endorsements, and comply with additional state and federal regulations.
Because of the need for specialized equipment and the additional risks and demands associated with transporting hazardous materials, hazmat drivers typically earn a substantially higher salary than drivers operating a standard van, reefer, or flatbed unit.
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Drivers who want to earn more in the trucking industry go above and beyond the norm to acquire in-demand skills and endorsements that open new and lucrative career doors. Even if you recently obtained your CDL, these high-paying jobs will be within your reach once you put in the time and maintain a safe and clean driving record.
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Trucking The Life of a Truck Driver: What It's Like to Be a Driver Learn more about a day in the life of a truck driver. From a typical daily routine to career requirements, learn all about what it's like to be a driver.
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Trucks Why is there a shortage of truck drivers? The Truth and Causes Why is there a truck driver shortage and what can we do to fix it? The truck shortage comes with many burdens such as low wages, stress and high turnover. Average truck driver and driver salary $250,847 per year To create our salary estimates, we start with data published in publicly available sources such as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center (FLC) Show more
Operators and truck driver earn $250,
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