According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are over 3,000,000 commercial truck drivers in the United States. Over half of these professionals are responsible for driving the big rigs: heavy trucks, tractor-trailers. Around a third are driving delivery trucks, or trucks with loads under 25,000 lbs. – and the rest are on the road as driver/sales workers.
Truck drivers are based for the most part in big cities or near to major interstates – raising their families near places where trucking companies have their distribution centers. Truck transport companies and wholesalers employ around half of the professional truck drivers on the roads. Makes sense, right?
As for the American Dream — owning your own truck, driving the country as an independent professional — according to the BLR about 10% of American truckers have accomplished that goal. These owner-operators make their way by leasing their services (including the use of their truck(s)) to a trucking company — or they build relationships with businesses to routinely haul that companies’ goods.
And while ten percent doesn’t sound like much, it still means that around 300,000 independent truckers are living their dream.
