HaulTrucking Industry Statistics
How big is the U.S. trucking industry? These figures come straight from the public FMCSA Company Census and operating-authority register: how many motor carriers are active, how they break down by operation type, fleet size, and state, and how many hold active operating authority. They are registration and operating records — not safety ratings or a count of who is actively hauling today.
The headline numbers
2,197,714 carriers carry an active operating status in the FMCSA Company Census (dataset az4n-8mr2). “Active” is a registration status, not a guarantee a carrier is currently operating.
Carriers by operation type
Interstate carriers cross state lines (and fall under federal FMCSA authority rules); intrastate carriers operate within a single state. The split shows how much of the registered base is local/intrastate versus interstate for-hire trucking.
Show data table
| Operation type | Carriers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Intrastate | 1,388,947 | 63.2% |
| Interstate | 676,378 | 30.8% |
| Not specified | 85,264 | 3.9% |
| Interstate (hazmat) | 47,125 | 2.1% |
Carriers by fleet size
The industry is overwhelmingly small operators: about 81.8% of active carriers report 1–6 power units. Fleet size is the carrier’s self-reported power-unit count on its MCS-150 census filing; carriers reporting zero/unknown units are not shown.
Show data table
| Fleet size | Carriers |
|---|---|
| 1–6 trucks | 1,798,154 |
| 7–20 trucks | 115,425 |
| 21–100 trucks | 38,532 |
| 101+ trucks | 8,156 |
Fleet size varies sharply by what a carrier hauls — see how it breaks down across freight types in trucking companies by cargo type.
Operating authority & applications
Operating authority (the “MC number” world) is separate from census registration. A carrier needs active authority to haul regulated freight for hire across state lines. There are 42,432 common-authority applications and 8,053 broker applications pending, and 13,172 carriers with a common-authority revocation pending — the leading edge of authority churn that our daily change feed tracks over time.
Trucking companies by state
Ranked by the carrier’s registered physical-address state. This reflects where carriers are based (population and freight activity), not where they operate or how safe their roads are.
Show data table
| State | Active carriers |
|---|---|
| California | 10,579 |
| Texas | 3,277 |
| Florida | 2,221 |
| Georgia | 2,068 |
| Washington | 1,948 |
| Illinois | 1,502 |
| New Jersey | 1,264 |
| South Carolina | 1,147 |
| Pennsylvania | 976 |
| New York | 883 |
| North Carolina | 806 |
| Ohio | 701 |
| Virginia | 680 |
| Michigan | 667 |
| Minnesota | 614 |
| Colorado | 597 |
| Maryland | 578 |
| Arizona | 500 |
| Alabama | 457 |
| Wisconsin | 453 |
| Massachusetts | 448 |
| Oregon | 419 |
| Tennessee | 418 |
| Utah | 399 |
| Indiana | 377 |
| Missouri | 370 |
| Oklahoma | 321 |
| Iowa | 272 |
| Kentucky | 271 |
| Kansas | 252 |
| Louisiana | 247 |
| Hawaii | 233 |
| Mississippi | 232 |
| Nebraska | 227 |
| Connecticut | 171 |
| Idaho | 164 |
| Alaska | 161 |
| Nevada | 160 |
| Arkansas | 152 |
| ON | 148 |
| Puerto Rico | 147 |
| Montana | 130 |
| New Mexico | 127 |
| Wyoming | 116 |
| Maine | 106 |
| BC | 103 |
| AB | 96 |
| QC | 96 |
| North Dakota | 84 |
| West Virginia | 82 |
| South Dakota | 72 |
| Delaware | 66 |
| New Hampshire | 55 |
| MB | 39 |
| Rhode Island | 36 |
| Vermont | 31 |
| CI | 27 |
| SK | 21 |
| Guam | 21 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 21 |
| TA | 15 |
| NB | 13 |
| District of Columbia | 12 |
| NS | 11 |
| SO | 10 |
| MP | 8 |
| GT | 5 |
| CH | 4 |
| NL | 4 |
| AS | 4 |
What’s changing right now
The numbers above are a snapshot of the industry as it stands. Because HaulReport keeps a daily history of the FMCSA data, we can also show the flow — what changed in the last 30 days: 4,754 carriers newly appeared in the census and 4,561 new crash records were reported. See the daily FMCSA carrier activity feed, newly registered trucking companies, and how many carriers have gone inactive for the live movement behind these totals.
Frequently asked questions
- How many trucking companies are there in the United States?
- 2,197,714 motor carriers are currently active in the FMCSA Company Census — the federal registry every for-hire and private interstate carrier must be listed in. Of those, 676,378 operate interstate (plus 47,125 interstate hazmat) and 1,388,947 operate intrastate only. These are registration records, not a measure of which carriers are actively hauling.
- How many trucking companies are small carriers?
- About 81.8% of active carriers (1,798,154) report a fleet of 1–6 power units. The U.S. trucking industry is dominated by very small operators — only 8,156 active carriers report more than 100 trucks.
- How many carriers hold active FMCSA operating authority?
- 328,575 carriers hold active common (for-hire) operating authority and 68,919 hold active contract authority in the FMCSA L&I register, alongside 25,081 active brokers. A further 42,432 common-authority applications are pending. Operating authority is separate from census registration — a carrier needs authority to haul regulated freight for hire across state lines.
- Which state has the most trucking companies?
- California has the most active registered carriers (10,579), followed by Texas (3,277) and Florida (2,221). This reflects where carriers register their physical address, driven by population and freight activity.