How Much Do Truck Drivers Make?

How much do truck drivers make?

If you’re on a mission to find a career right now, you might be asking yourself that very question. You might also be wondering what factors play into the salary that a truck driver brings home every year.

The truth is that a truck driver’s salary can really vary depending upon a number of different things. The average truck driver salary is around $40,000, but that number can be significantly higher or lower. There are some truckers pulling in upwards of $150,000 and some making much less than $40,000 in some places.

Before you decide if truck driving is ultimately for you, you should consider some of the things that could impact your take-home salary. Here are a few of the factors that will play a role in your income.

How Long Have You Been Driving a Truck?

Like just about any other industry, you’re more likely to make more money driving a truck if you’ve been doing it for a long time. The more experience you have, the more valuable you will be to a trucking company.

The trucking industry has actually undergone a lot of turnover in recent years. There are many truckers getting out of the game, and it has left the industry with a lack of experienced truck drivers.

That means that trucking companies are more willing than ever before to pay for experienced truckers. With more than 200,000 truck driving jobs open right now and many more expected to open up in the coming years, they’re offering top dollar to experienced truckers.

This could benefit truck drivers in a big way in the near future and drive the average salary up higher than it already is.

How Far Are You Willing to Drive?

Those truck drivers who are willing to drive long distances for trucking companies are usually paid more than those who opt to drive local routes.

It’s not hard to see why trucking companies value long-distance drivers more than short-distance ones. Those drivers are often giving up a lot of their time and spending days, if not weeks, away from their families. They are, therefore, given more money to keep them happy.

If you’re ready and able to drive a truck for hundreds of miles at a time, you won’t have any trouble finding work. You also won’t have any problem getting a trucking company to pay you a significant amount of money to do it.

Do You Have a Commercial Driver’s License?

If your goal is to make as much money as you possibly can while driving a truck, you should commit to getting your commercial driver’s license, which is better known as a CDL.

A CDL will automatically entitle you to more money from trucking companies. Companies are always in search of drivers with a CDL and will often bend over backward for them.

If you don’t have a CDL and you’re planning on becoming a trucker, you should try and get it as soon as possible. You’ll make yourself a better candidate and open yourself up to better-paying opportunities.

Where Are You Located?

Trucking companies need truckers all over. So your location won’t play a huge role in your pay.

But if you’re located in a hotbed for trucking, you’re probably going to find that trucking companies will be willing to pay you more than usual.

That being said, most serious truckers are willing to pick up and go wherever they’re needed. So you shouldn’t necessarily stress out too much if you aren’t stationed in a place known for trucking. You can easily go where the work is and increase your salary.

Does Your Trucking Company Offer Bonuses?

There are quite a few trucking companies that are offering handsome bonuses to truckers who are willing to take on certain routes these days. They want to entice truckers to work with them, and they do it by setting up bonus systems.

If you work with a company that has a bonus system in place, it can actually give your salary a substantial bump whenever you earn a bonus. At the very least, it will motivate you to do your very best when you’re driving your truck.

You should encourage your trucking company to set up a bonus system of some kind if they don’t already have one in place. Or you should consider looking for a company that values its employees enough to make bonuses a priority.

Do You Specialize in a Specific Type of Trucking?

There are different types of trucking that you can do as a truck driver that could potentially lead to bigger paydays.

For example, if you can do hazmat hauling for a company, you’re going to set yourself apart from just about all of the other truck drivers out there. There aren’t many who are qualified to do this kind of work.

When you set yourself apart, you will also increase the demand for your services and force companies to make you more lucrative offers. They will open up their wallets and essentially hand you a blank check if you can do certain types of trucking for them.

You should consider specializing in a specific type of trucking if you aren’t doing it already. It might be a good idea to take a look around at some of the specialized jobs that are being offered to see what you could make.

You could really give your salary a boost by doing this and take full advantage of your skills as a truck driver.