The American Trucking Associations seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index reached 117.8 in April 2026, a 3.5 percent increase over the same month a year earlier and the highest reading recorded since 2022. The index has risen 4.7 percent since the close of 2025 and has not declined in any month so far this year.

Monthly figures show a consistent upward path. The advanced seasonally adjusted index measured 116.2 in February, up from 113.3 in January. March results marked a 3 percent gain over March 2025. First quarter tonnage finished 2.1 percent above the first quarter of 2025, which the association identifies as the strongest quarterly comparison since the third quarter of 2017. Through the first four months of 2026, cumulative tonnage ran 2.6 percent ahead of the same period in 2025.

Trucking accounts for 72.7 percent of all domestic freight tonnage moved in the United States. Carriers hauled 11.27 billion tons of freight during 2024, down from 11.41 billion tons the previous year.

The index measures physical tonnage hauled by for-hire carriers rather than revenue billed, and it is indexed to a 2015 base of 100. That construction separates volume movement from rate movement, which matters in a year when spot rates and tonnage have moved on different trajectories.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics incorporates truck tonnage into its Transportation Services Index, giving the series a role in broader federal economic measurement.

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