Dive Brief:
- A survey of over 130 fleets found most planned to increase pay in 2026, according to the American Trucking Associations 2026 Driver Compensation Study.
- That comes as carriers appeared to be increasing rates, such as irregular-route TL median pay increasing 8.3% to $73,639 in 2025 compared to 2023’s median, the organization said. Dedicated-route’s median compensation rose 4.2% over that same two-year period, too, according to ATA’s data.
- “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 in a news release. The data covers driver earnings in 2025.
Dive Insight:
While pay rates may be increasing, take home pay may be a different story.
Leased-on independent contractors for TL carriers earned an annual median amount of “more than $170,000” in 2025, versus $186,016 in 2023, according to ATA survey data.
Similarly, median earnings for linehaul LTL in 2025 was $85,000, compared to $94,525 in 2023, per ATA’s figures.
The study did note, however, that different carrier groups were surveyed in those collection years, which may better explain the changes because of the non-similar samples.
Carriers have been announcing rate-per-mile increases throughout this year. Announcements have come from businesses such as Roehl Transport, Averitt and Anderson Trucking Service.
ATA’s full study covers over 140,000 employee drivers, and over 9,000 leased-on independent contractors and is available at ATA Business Solutions. It costs $1,500.
