Here's how much truck drivers get paid
Pay can vary based on experience and qualifications
FOX Business' Tracee Carrasco speaks to truck driving instructor Liz Myers about what companies are doing to encourage more women to join the trucking industry.
The trucking industry has been raising wages for drivers in an attempt to attract more qualified candidates – but just what does the average salary look like?
The answer often depends on what type of job an individual is working – and what their experience looks like.
Wages rose throughout the industry as companies attempted to combat a driver shortage – particularly in 2018, which was an outstanding year for trucking. As previously reported by FOX Business, the industry could be short 174,000 drivers by 2026.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for a truck driver in 2018 was about $45,000. That is roughly on par with the median earnings of all full-time workers in the U.S. as of the fourth quarter of last year.
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However, as previously reported by FOX Business, drivers with more experience can earn between $60,000 and $70,000.
And drivers who work for companies like Walmart – which is building up its own fleet – can earn even better wages. As of last year, the company was paying its drivers, on average, about 89 cents per mile – or $87,500 per year.
Additionally, Walmart drivers enjoy benefits like earned paid time off, 401(k), medical and dental insurance, company-paid life insurance and short-term disability.
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Salaries can be even higher for people who are considered owner-operators. An owner-operator is someone who essentially runs a trucking business. They provide and maintain their own trucks, pay for their own fuel and often have their own drivers. Those features allow them to take home a larger chunk of pay by the percentage of the haul. They often also make their own schedules, enjoying more freedom and flexibility.
“For people who can manage it ... it’s a very, very good living and it’s a preferred way of life,” Brian Fielkow, president of multimillion-dollar trucking and logistics company Jetco Delivery, told FOX Business.
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According to job search website Indeed, the average annual salary for an owner-operator driver is $200,950.
Fielkow told FOX Business he expects fewer companies may be raising wages this year – on the heels of a challenging 2019 – with many of the same headwinds expected to carry on through at least the beginning of 2020.
But beyond just increasing pay, companies have also worked on beefing up other perks – including improving quality of life for drivers and trying to get them home to their families more often.