Trucks carried roughly 72.7% of the nation's freight by weight in 2024, according to figures compiled by the American Trucking Associations' economics department, underscoring how central the industry remains to the movement of goods across the country.

The same data set puts the trucking industry's gross freight revenue at $906 billion in 2024, generated primarily from shipments moved by the nation's fleet of 14.89 million single-unit and combination trucks registered that year. Those trucks accounted for roughly 5% of all registered motor vehicles and logged nearly 330 billion miles on US roads.

Employment figures tied to the sector are similarly large. ATA estimates that 8.4 million people worked in trucking-related jobs in 2024, including 3.58 million professional drivers, a total that slipped 0.8% from the prior year. Nearly 580,000 active motor carriers were registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as of June 2025, and the vast majority are small operations: 91.5% run 10 trucks or fewer, and 99.3% run 100 or fewer.

Separate ATA survey data highlights how much carriers are spending to keep that fleet safe. A 2023 industry survey found trucking companies invested almost $14 billion in safety programs in 2022, up from $9.8 billion in 2014, an increase driven largely by spending on on-board safety technology, driver training, safety incentives, preventative maintenance, and compliance programs. The survey covered nearly 170,000 drivers and 160,000 trucks across for-hire, less-than-truckload, and private fleets.

Trucking's reach also extends across US borders. ATA data shows trucks moved 67% of the value of surface trade with Canada and 85% of the value of surface trade with Mexico in 2024, reinforcing the industry's role in cross-border supply chains alongside its dominance in domestic freight movement.

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