Industry data compiled by the American Trucking Associations underscore the scale of the U.S. trucking sector and its central role in the national freight system. The nation's trucking freight bill was estimated at $906 billion in gross freight revenues from primary shipments in 2024, representing 76.9% of total revenue earned by all domestic transport modes.

Domestic truck tonnage reached an estimated 11.27 billion tons of freight in 2024, accounting for 72.7% of all tonnage carried by every mode of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods.

The industry remains dominated by small businesses. According to ATA figures, 91.5% of motor carriers operate ten or fewer trucks, and 99.3% operate fewer than 100 power units. Trucking employed 8.4 million people in industry-related jobs in 2024, including 3.58 million professional drivers.

Cross-border freight is similarly truck-dependent. Trucks moved 67% of surface trade between the United States and Canada and 85% of goods crossing the Mexican border in 2024. On the cost side, carriers paid 24.4 cents in federal fuel tax for each gallon of diesel and 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline as of January 2025, on top of state fuel levies.

The figures are drawn from ATA's economics and industry data program, which publishes the annual American Trucking Trends report.

Source: American Trucking Associations -- https://www.trucking.org/economics-and-industry-data