---
title: "Light Truck Driver"
description: "Drive a light vehicle, such as a truck or van, with a capacity of less than 26,001 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), primarily to pick up merchandise or…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/light-truck-driver"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Light Truck Driver

**Category:** Transportation and Material Moving · **SOC code:** 53-3033 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 53-3033.00

Drive a light vehicle, such as a truck or van, with a capacity of less than 26,001 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), primarily to pick up merchandise or packages from a distribution center and deliver. May load and unload vehicle.

Also advertised as: Bulk Delivery Driver; Delivery Driver; Driver; Light Truck Driver; Package Car Driver; Package Delivery Driver; Route Driver; Service Provider.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $44,860 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $21.57/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $30,800 to $80,310, with the middle half between $37,270 and $52,310
- **Total US employment:** 983,300
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +7.3% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 120,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 62/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 983,300 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $30,800 |
| 25th | $37,270 |
| 50th (median) | $44,860 |
| 75th | $52,310 |
| 90th | $80,310 |
| Mean (average) | $48,770 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AK | $57,190 | $55,872 | 1,790 |
| DC | $49,330 | $44,886 | 540 |
| WA | $49,070 | $45,854 | 23,290 |
| MN | $48,880 | $49,563 | 17,360 |
| CO | $48,410 | $46,976 | 15,810 |
| MD | $48,150 | $45,875 | 18,420 |
| MA | $48,110 | $45,491 | 23,350 |
| ND | $47,950 | $53,901 | 1,950 |
| IL | $47,380 | $47,400 | 47,190 |
| OR | $47,150 | $45,617 | 11,120 |
| NJ | $46,820 | $43,031 | 33,900 |
| CA | $46,790 | $42,260 | 111,950 |
| MT | $46,420 | $49,046 | 2,960 |
| NY | $46,330 | $42,930 | 56,490 |
| NH | $46,260 | $44,410 | 4,670 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/light-truck-driver/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/light-truck-driver.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 1,079,800 in the 2024–2034 base year to 1,158,600 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 78,900 jobs, or +7.3%. Much faster than average: 7.3% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 120,200 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma | 74.0% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 24.6% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 1.2% |
| Some College Courses | 0.3% |

## What the work involves

- Obey traffic laws and follow established traffic and transportation procedures.
- Read maps and follow written or verbal geographic directions.
- Load and unload trucks, vans, or automobiles.
- Verify the contents of inventory loads against shipping papers.
- Maintain records, such as vehicle logs, records of cargo, or billing statements, in accordance with regulations.
- Report any mechanical problems encountered with vehicles.
- Inspect and maintain vehicle supplies and equipment, such as gas, oil, water, tires, lights, or brakes, to ensure that vehicles are in proper working condition.
- Drive vehicles with capacities under three tons to transport materials to and from specified destinations, such as railroad stations, plants, residences, offices, or within industrial yards.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operation and Control — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- English Language — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Multilimb Coordination — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Far Vision — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Spatial Orientation — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.88 |
| C — Conventional | 4.42 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.10 |
| I — Investigative | 1.54 |
| S — Social | 1.36 |
| A — Artistic | 1.02 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 87.9 |
| ESTJ | 77.4 |
| ISFJ | 75.3 |
| ISTP | 71.8 |
| ESTP | 61.7 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Truck Driver](https://nuecareer.com/careers/truck-driver) — median $58,640
- [Driver/Sales Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/driver-sales-worker) — median $38,770
- [Courier and Messenger](https://nuecareer.com/careers/courier-and-messenger) — median $39,200
- [Shuttle Driver and Chauffeur](https://nuecareer.com/careers/shuttle-driver-and-chauffeur) — median $37,290
- [Taxi Driver](https://nuecareer.com/careers/taxi-driver) — median $42,100
- [Industrial Truck and Tractor Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-truck-and-tractor-operator) — median $46,420
- [Dispatcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dispatcher) — median $50,340
- [Railroad Conductor and Yardmaster](https://nuecareer.com/careers/railroad-conductor-and-yardmaster) — median $78,000
- [Cargo and Freight Agent](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cargo-and-freight-agent) — median $52,260
- [Postal Service Mail Carrier](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postal-service-mail-carrier) — median $60,550

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/light-truck-driver