---
title: "Truck Driver"
description: "Drive a tractor-trailer combination or a truck with a capacity of at least 26,001 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). May be required to unload truck.…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/truck-driver"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Truck Driver

**Category:** Transportation and Material Moving · **SOC code:** 53-3032 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 53-3032.00

Drive a tractor-trailer combination or a truck with a capacity of at least 26,001 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). May be required to unload truck. Requires commercial drivers' license. Includes tow truck drivers.

Also advertised as: CDL Driver (Commercial Driver's License Driver); Driver; Line Haul Driver; Log Truck Driver; Over the Road Driver (OTR Driver); Production Truck Driver; Road Driver; Semi Truck Driver.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $58,640 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $28.19/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $40,140 to $79,380, with the middle half between $47,960 and $69,120
- **Total US employment:** 2,062,040
- **Typical entry education:** Certificate
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +4.0% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 237,600 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 49/100 — 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 2,062,040 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $40,140 |
| 25th | $47,960 |
| 50th (median) | $58,640 |
| 75th | $69,120 |
| 90th | $79,380 |
| Mean (average) | $59,710 |

### 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 | $70,100 | $68,484 | 3,420 |
| WA | $64,760 | $60,516 | 40,530 |
| DC | $64,170 | $58,389 | 830 |
| NJ | $63,570 | $58,426 | 47,980 |
| MA | $63,030 | $59,599 | 30,890 |
| NV | $62,290 | $62,303 | 15,010 |
| NY | $62,050 | $57,496 | 63,700 |
| MN | $61,990 | $62,857 | 38,770 |
| OR | $61,980 | $59,965 | 23,970 |
| CO | $61,500 | $59,679 | 25,350 |
| ND | $60,910 | $68,470 | 11,870 |
| VT | $60,830 | $62,098 | 3,560 |
| UT | $60,620 | $61,317 | 25,060 |
| CT | $60,490 | $58,382 | 15,740 |
| IL | $60,320 | $60,345 | 84,200 |

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

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 2,235,100 in the 2024–2034 base year to 2,324,400 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 89,300 jobs, or +4.0%. About as fast as average: 4.0% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 237,600 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:** Postsecondary nondegree award (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 | 54.3% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 25.9% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 18.5% |
| Some College Courses | 1.2% |

## What the work involves

- Report vehicle defects, accidents, traffic violations, or damage to the vehicles.
- Check vehicles to ensure that mechanical, safety, and emergency equipment is in good working order.
- Operate equipment, such as truck cab computers, CB radios, phones, or global positioning systems (GPS) equipment to exchange necessary information with bases, supervisors, or other drivers.
- Maneuver trucks into loading or unloading positions, following signals from loading crew and checking that vehicle and loading equipment are properly positioned.
- Perform basic vehicle maintenance tasks, such as adding oil, fuel, or radiator fluid, performing minor repairs, or washing trucks.
- Maintain logs of working hours or of vehicle service or repair status, following applicable state and federal regulations.
- Collect delivery instructions from appropriate sources, verifying instructions and routes.
- Drive trucks with capacities greater than 13 tons, including tractor-trailer combinations, to transport and deliver products, livestock, or other materials.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.0 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.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Transportation — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Far Vision — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Spatial Orientation — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Multilimb Coordination — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Response Orientation — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Rate Control — importance 3.9 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 | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 4.10 |
| I — Investigative | 1.92 |
| S — Social | 1.33 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.30 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### 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 | 88.0 |
| ISTP | 75.2 |
| ISFJ | 74.8 |
| ESTJ | 73.4 |
| INTJ | 63.4 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Industrial Truck and Tractor Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-truck-and-tractor-operator) — median $46,420
- [Light Truck Driver](https://nuecareer.com/careers/light-truck-driver) — median $44,860
- [Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tank-car-truck-and-ship-loader) — median $58,870
- [Bus and Truck Mechanic and Diesel Engine Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bus-and-truck-mechanic-and-diesel-engine-specialist) — median $61,770
- [Loading and Moving Machine Operator, Underground Mining](https://nuecareer.com/careers/loading-and-moving-machine-operator-underground-mining) — median $74,500
- [Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/refuse-and-recyclable-material-collector) — median $49,690
- [Taxi Driver](https://nuecareer.com/careers/taxi-driver) — median $42,100
- [Rail Yard Engineer, Dinkey Operator, and Hostler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rail-yard-engineer-dinkey-operator-and-hostler) — median $60,600
- [Laborer and Freight, Stock, and Material Mover, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/laborer-and-freight-stock-and-material-mover-hand) — median $40,240
- [Shuttle Driver and Chauffeur](https://nuecareer.com/careers/shuttle-driver-and-chauffeur) — median $37,290

## 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/truck-driver