Freight volumes moved by U.S. trucks are running near their strongest levels in years, according to the American Trucking Associations. The group's seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index reached 117.8 in April, up 3.5 percent from the same month in 2025 and holding at the highest readings since 2022.

The April figure followed a March index of 117, which marked a 3 percent year-over-year gain and the largest such increase in more than three years. Across the first four months of 2026, tonnage ran 2.6 percent ahead of the same period a year earlier, pointing to a gradual recovery in freight demand.

The scale of trucking within the wider freight economy underscores why the index draws attention. Trucks accounted for 72.7 percent of tonnage carried by all domestic freight modes and hauled 11.27 billion tons of freight in 2024. Motor carriers collected roughly $906 billion in revenue that year, equal to 76.9 percent of total revenue earned across all transportation modes.

The tonnage index is built from monthly surveys of ATA member carriers hauling contract freight, a methodology the association has used since the 1970s, with the year 2015 set as the baseline value of 100. Because trucking touches nearly every sector of the economy, the index is widely treated as a barometer of broader activity. The recent readings suggest freight conditions have stabilized after a prolonged soft stretch.

Source: American Trucking Associations -- https://www.trucking.org/news-insights/ata-truck-tonnage-index-unchanged-april