Trucks moved 11.27 billion tons of freight across the United States in the most recent year covered by the American Trucking Associations, down from 11.41 billion tons the prior year. That volume represented more than 72 percent of all domestic freight tonnage.

Industry revenue tracked the same direction. Total trucking revenue came in at $906 billion, a decline from $1.004 trillion the year before. The drop reflects a combination of softer volume and lower rates during an extended freight downturn that pressured margins across carrier size classes.

Employment figures show the scale of the workforce attached to that freight. The industry supported 8.4 million jobs in trucking-related roles, of which 3.58 million were professional drivers. The gap between those two figures covers maintenance technicians, dispatchers, safety and compliance staff, dock and terminal workers, and back-office functions.

The structural composition of the sector remains heavily weighted toward small operators. Carriers running 10 or fewer trucks account for 91.5 percent of the total, and 99.3 percent of carriers operate fewer than 100 power units. That distribution means the majority of registered motor carriers have limited capacity to absorb regulatory compliance costs, insurance increases, or equipment price inflation without adjusting rates or reducing fleet size.

The concentration of small operators also shapes how quickly the sector responds to demand shifts. Capacity enters and exits the market faster than in industries dominated by large fleets, which contributes to the amplitude of freight rate cycles.

Source: American Trucking Associations - https://www.trucking.org/news-insights/ata-releases-latest-edition-american-trucking-trends-0