How Many Trucking Companies Are There in the US? Carriers by Fleet Size and State (2026)

How many trucking companies are there: 1,912,145 active carriers run at least one truck

The answer depends on three filters: active status, at least one power unit, and at least one truck or tractor. Applied to the October 31, 2026 census file, they leave 1,912,145 trucking companies in the 50 states and DC.

The FMCSA Company Census File holds one record per USDOT number: 4,524,695 records on October 31, 2026. More than half are dead weight for this question. 2,279,527 records are inactive, and FMCSA's data dictionary defines an inactive entity as one no longer in business or no longer subject to federal rules.

After the active-status and carrier filters, 2,132,002 active motor carriers remain worldwide. FMCSA's own Registration Statistics page showed 2,122,441 active carriers for its August 28, 2026 snapshot, a gap of 9,561 (0.45%) two months apart, so the filters reproduce the agency's headline closely.

We then keep carriers whose principal place of business is in the 50 states or DC, that report at least one power unit, and that list at least one straight truck or truck tractor. The last step removes 70,258 passenger-only carriers such as bus, van and limousine operators.

Trucking company (as counted here): An active USDOT record that is a motor carrier, is based in the 50 states or DC, reports at least one power unit and owns or leases at least one straight truck or truck tractor. It includes for-hire carriers and private carriers that haul their own goods, interstate and intrastate.

Interstate carriers are the comparable core: 619,105 companies. The other 1,292,900 are intrastate-only, and their count depends on state law, because only some states require intrastate carriers to hold a USDOT number. That difference shows up in the state table below.

Six in ten trucking companies run a single power unit

The fleet-size ladder is steep: 59.6% of companies run one power unit, 30.8% run 2 to 5, and fewer than 1 in 300 run more than 100.

Of the 1,910,254 trucking companies with a usable fleet entry, 1,137,925 report one power unit and 587,875 report 2 to 5. Together that is 90.3% of all trucking companies. Companies with fewer than 10 power units make up 94.7%.

Interstate carriers are a little larger: 50.3% of them run one power unit, against 59.6% for all operations. Intrastate-only registrations add many more single-unit carriers, for-hire and private alike.

Power unit: A self-propelled vehicle that pulls or carries cargo or passengers: a straight truck, a truck tractor, a motorcoach, a school bus, a van or a limousine. FMCSA's data dictionary totals power units from those equipment fields, including term-leased and trip-leased units. Trailers are not power units.

The 6,024 carriers with more than 100 power units hold 31.6% of the power units

Counting companies and counting trucks give opposite pictures. Single-unit companies are 59.6% of carriers but hold 13.8% of power units; fleets over 100 units are 0.32% of carriers and hold 31.6%.

The 1,910,254 trucking companies with usable entries report 8,234,303 power units, an average of 4.31 per company. The 839 companies with more than 500 power units report 1,578,692 of them, 19.2% of the total.

Concentration is sharper among interstate carriers, where fleets over 100 units hold 47.2% of 5,091,440 power units. An OOIDA fact sheet table built from FMCSA data on interstate carriers as of December 2020 gives 47.23% for the same band, so the split has barely moved in six years. The two figures use different snapshots and cleaning rules.

The middle band of 6 to 100 power units, the range between owner-run operations and large fleets, holds 178,430 companies and 34.9% of power units. The band cutoffs are ours, chosen for this report, not an FMCSA category.

For-hire carriers outnumber private fleets, but not by much

58.5% of trucking companies are registered to haul for hire, alone or alongside their own goods; 39.9% are private carriers only.

FMCSA's classification field lets a carrier tick several boxes. 941,385 trucking companies are for-hire only, 762,786 are private only and 176,673 are registered as both. Another 31,301 have a government, other or blank classification.

Single-truck operations are most common among for-hire-only carriers: 68.5% of them report one power unit, against 50.5% of private-only carriers. Among interstate carriers the for-hire share is higher, 73.6%.

Private carrier: A company whose trucking is incidental to, and in furtherance of, its main business, such as a builder or distributor hauling its own materials (FMCSA data dictionary, classification C).

California has the most trucking companies; the Northern Plains have the densest middle market

California, Texas and Florida lead on raw counts. Per resident, interstate carriers with 6 to 100 power units are most common in North Dakota (108.1 per 100,000) and least common in Hawaii and DC (6.5).

The tile map uses interstate carriers only, because intrastate coverage varies by state. The intrastate-only share of trucking companies ranges from 26.1% in Vermont to 96.1% in Hawaii, a spread far wider than differences in trucking activity. FMCSA's data dictionary notes that only selected states issue USDOT numbers to intrastate non-hazmat carriers.

By count of interstate carriers with 6 to 100 power units, Texas leads (7,455), then Illinois (6,743) and California (6,380). Nationally there are 97,549 such carriers, 28.5 per 100,000 residents.

A carrier's state is its principal place of business. A carrier based in one state may run trucks in many others, and a large fleet with terminals across the country appears only in its headquarters state.

Why the Census Bureau counts 157,072 trucking firms and FMCSA counts millions

Federal sources count different things: FMCSA counts registered carriers of any industry that run trucks, while the Census Bureau counts businesses whose main activity is truck transportation, split by whether they have employees.

The Census Bureau's Statistics of U.S. Businesses counts 157,072 employer firms in truck transportation (NAICS 484) for 2022, and 122,152 of them (77.8%) had fewer than 5 employees. County Business Patterns counts 170,286 establishments with 1,693,228 employees in 2023. Nonemployer Statistics adds 900,931 truck transportation businesses with no paid staff in 2024, with $102.0 billion in receipts. Our small business count by state explains how the two Census programs fit together.

FMCSA's file is larger because it includes private carriers whose main business is not trucking, plus intrastate carriers, while the Census Bureau files each business under its main activity. The American Trucking Associations cites almost 580,000 active US carriers that own or lease at least one tractor as of June 2025, with 91.5% operating 10 or fewer trucks. Our closest replication, interstate carriers with at least one tractor, gives 377,083 companies and 89.0% with 10 or fewer trucks; ATA does not publish its exact filter.

Owner-operators: three definitions, three different counts

There is no official owner-operator count. Proxies range from 252,373 interstate single-truck carriers to 909,220 single-truck carriers of all kinds.

In the census file, 909,220 trucking companies report one power unit and one driver or none, 47.6% of companies with a usable fleet entry. 252,373 of them are interstate. Census Nonemployer Statistics counts 900,931 truck transportation businesses without employees in 2024. OOIDA, the owner-operator association, estimates 350,000 to 400,000 owner-operators without publishing a method.

The counts differ for two reasons. An owner-operator leased to an authorized carrier hands that carrier exclusive possession, control and responsibility for the truck during the lease (49 CFR 376.12), so the truck can sit in the lessee's fleet rather than under a USDOT number of its own. And many single-unit USDOT holders are private carriers whose main business is not trucking.

Owner-operator: A driver who owns or leases the truck they drive. They may run under their own operating authority or be leased to another motor carrier. FMCSA's census file has no owner-operator field.

Motus and paused deactivations make the 2026 count softer than usual

FMCSA moved registration to a new system in May 2026 and stopped inactivating USDOT numbers for missed biennial updates from June 1. Carriers that would normally drop out stay active, so the October 2026 count may run high.

Federal rules require every registered motor carrier to update its registration every 24 months and allow FMCSA to deactivate the USDOT number of a carrier that does not (49 CFR 390.201). In the October 2026 file, 78,678 interstate trucking companies (12.7%) have an MCS-150 date older than 24 months, and 30,213 have no date at all.

Registration activity did not slow. Records added or reactivated from June to September 2026 numbered 63,978, against 57,558 in the same months of 2025, a 11.2% increase. These counts cover every entity type, not only trucking companies.

For a longer view, FMCSA's Pocket Guide counts interstate freight carriers with recent activity: 555,567 in 2019, a peak of 763,867 in 2022 and 735,895 in 2023. That series uses a recent-activity test that the census file does not carry, so it cannot be extended with this report's October 2026 count.

The numbers in one list

1. The FMCSA Company Census File lists 1,912,145 active trucking companies based in the 50 states and DC with at least one power unit and one truck or tractor, as of October 31, 2026.^[1]
2. 619,105 active US trucking companies (32.4%) were registered for interstate operation on October 31, 2026; 1,292,900 were intrastate non-hazmat carriers and 139 intrastate hazmat carriers.^[1][2]
3. 59.6% of US trucking companies with a usable fleet entry (1,137,925 of 1,910,254) reported exactly one power unit in October 2026.^[1]
4. 94.7% of US trucking companies reported fewer than 10 power units in October 2026, and 90.3% reported 5 or fewer.^[1]
5. 6,024 US trucking companies (0.32%) reported more than 100 power units in October 2026 and held 31.6% of the 8,234,303 power units reported.^[1]
6. Among interstate carriers, fleets over 100 power units held 47.2% of power units in October 2026, close to the 47.23% in an OOIDA table of December 2020 MCMIS data.^[1][22]
7. 178,430 US trucking companies (9.3%) ran 6 to 100 power units in October 2026; they held 34.9% of reported power units.^[1]
8. California had the most active trucking companies in October 2026 (236,911), followed by Texas (170,639) and Florida (135,069).^[1]
9. North Dakota had 108.1 interstate trucking companies with 6 to 100 power units per 100,000 residents in October 2026, the highest of any state; the US figure was 28.5.^[1][11]
10. 1,118,058 US trucking companies (58.5%) were registered as for-hire carriers in October 2026, alone or together with private carriage.^[1]
11. 78,678 interstate trucking companies (12.7%) showed no MCS-150 update in the 24 months before October 31, 2026, the interval set by 49 CFR 390.201.^[1][9]
12. The Census Bureau counted 157,072 employer firms in truck transportation (NAICS 484) in 2022 and 900,931 nonemployer truck transportation businesses in 2024.^[13][16]
13. FMCSA's Pocket Guide counted 787,189 interstate and intrastate hazmat carriers with recent activity in December 2023, of which 53.2% had one power unit.^[3]

Calculations

Download the calculations (CSV)

Summary

• The FMCSA census file of October 31, 2026 holds 4,524,695 USDOT numbers; 1,912,145 belong to active trucking companies in the 50 states and DC that report at least one power unit and one truck or tractor.
• 619,105 of those companies (32.4%) are registered for interstate work; 1,292,900 are intrastate-only carriers that only some states require to hold a USDOT number.
• 1,137,925 companies (59.6%) report one power unit, and 94.7% report fewer than 10.
• Only 6,024 companies (0.32%) run more than 100 power units, yet they hold 31.6% of all reported power units, and 47.2% among interstate carriers.
• The middle of the market, 6 to 100 power units, has 178,430 companies (9.3%). Per resident, interstate carriers in that band are densest in North Dakota, Wyoming and South Dakota.
• 1,118,058 companies (58.5%) are registered as for-hire, alone or alongside private carriage; 762,786 (39.9%) haul only their own goods.
• 12.7% of interstate trucking companies have not filed an MCS-150 update in more than 24 months; FMCSA paused USDOT inactivations for missed updates from June 1, 2026 during the switch to its Motus system.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides, services and research

• Find the right broker to sell your business
• How many small businesses there are
• Age of Small Business Owners by State: Owners 65 or Older in Employer Firms, 2017 to 2023
• Business Owner Net Worth: How Much of It Is the Business? Federal Reserve Data (2026)
• Can a Child Care License Transfer to a New Owner? State-by-State Rules for Selling a Daycare (2026)
• Contractor License Qualifier Rules: What Happens to the License When You Sell a Contracting Business (2026)
• All business sale research

Reproduce this analysis

Every figure comes from the files below. The scripts that pulled and computed them are kept with the report and can be re-run.

Data quality and exclusions

• Inactive and pending records removed: 2,280,899 (2,279,527 inactive, 1,372 pending Mexico-domiciled applicants).
• Active non-carrier records removed (shipper, broker, registrant, freight forwarder, intermodal equipment provider or cargo tank only): 111,794.
• Active carriers outside the 50 states and DC removed: 5,942 in US territories and 19,149 foreign-domiciled or blank-country carriers.
• Carriers reporting zero or blank power units removed: 124,508. Passenger-only carriers with no truck or tractor removed: 70,258.
• Fleet entries set aside as unusable: 1,891 carriers (109 with placeholder values, 1,700 with more than 5 power units per driver above 100 units, 82 above 500 units without mileage support). They reported 65,663,706 power units in total, more than the 8,234,303 reported by all other trucking companies combined.
• Duplicate USDOT numbers: none found across 4,524,695 rows. Records added since mid-May 2026 carry non-sequential USDOT numbers up to 9,999,984; they were counted like any other record.

Methodology

Primary data: the FMCSA Company Census File (data.transportation.gov dataset az4n-8mr2), downloaded once on 2026-10-31 through the Socrata API in ten pages of 500,000 rows ordered by USDOT number, selecting only operational columns (no names, phones, emails or officer names). The dataset metadata shows rows updated on 2026-10-31; the newest MCS-150 date in the file is 2026-10-30. Field meanings follow FMCSA's data dictionary, Revision 8 (January 23, 2026).

Inclusion: active status (A), entity type includes carrier (C), principal place of business in the 50 states or DC, at least one power unit, and at least one straight truck or truck tractor owned, term-leased or trip-leased. Each USDOT number is counted once; the file has one row per number and no duplicates were found. Territories and foreign-domiciled carriers are counted in the data-quality notes but excluded from the totals.

Fleet-size figures exclude carriers whose equipment entries fail three plausibility rules: any equipment, driver or power-unit field holding a placeholder from 99990 to 99999; more than 100 power units with more than 5 power units per reported driver; or more than 500 power units with under 1,000 reported annual miles per unit (or a placeholder mileage). The rules were set after reviewing the largest reported fleets; known large carriers such as national parcel and truckload fleets pass them. These carriers remain in the company counts.

State comparisons use interstate carriers for the per-resident measure because states differ in whether intrastate carriers must hold a USDOT number. Population comes from the Census Bureau Vintage 2025 estimates for July 1, 2025 (released January 27, 2026).

Conflicting numbers: FMCSA's Pocket Guide uses a recent-activity filter (inspection, crash, review, MCS-150 update, registration or UCR activity in the past three years) that the census file does not carry, so its December 2023 counts are shown beside ours, not merged. ATA and OOIDA figures are shown as published, with their dates, and never used in calculations. The Census Bureau counts businesses by main industry and is shown as a separate population.

Derived metrics are in derived_metrics.csv with formulas and input rows; every script is in scripts/ and reruns from raw/. Last updated 2026-10-31. Next update: when FMCSA resumes biennial-update inactivations or at the next quarterly refresh, whichever comes first.

Sell My Business Broker (find the right broker to sell your business) is an independent matching service, not a broker. This report is research, not legal, tax or financial advice.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, financial or investment advice.

Sources, ranked by quality

Tier 1: primary and official sources (20)

• [1] Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration via data.transportation.gov. Company Census File (FMCSA Motor Carrier Management Information System), dataset az4n-8mr2. snapshot updated 2026-10-31. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [2] Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. MCMIS Company Census File Data Dictionary, Revision 8. dated 2026-01-23. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [3] Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. 2024 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics (Internet Archive copy of the official PDF, captured 2026-09-16). MCMIS snapshots December 2019 to December 29, 2023; published July 2025. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [4] Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. A&I Registration Statistics (Internet Archive copy of the official page, captured 2026-09-25). MCMIS snapshot 2026-08-28. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [5] Federal Register / Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Availability of Motus, FMCSA's New Registration System (Federal Register notice 2026-08334). published 2026-04-29. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [6] Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. About FMCSA Registration Modernization (Internet Archive copy of the official page, captured 2026-04-10). page as of 2026-04-10. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [7] Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Temporary Suspension of USDOT Inactivation in Motus (Internet Archive copy of the official page, captured 2026-07-15). page last updated 2026-06-22. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [8] Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Registration Modernization Resources Hub (Internet Archive copy of the official page, captured 2026-09-03). page as of 2026-09-03. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [9] National Archives, eCFR. 49 CFR 390.201, USDOT Registration (eCFR, version of 2026-10-01). current as of 2026-10-01. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [10] National Archives, eCFR. 49 CFR 390.5, Definitions (eCFR, version of 2026-10-01). current as of 2026-10-01. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [11] U.S. Census Bureau. Vintage 2025 state population estimates (NST-EST2025-ALLDATA.csv). July 1, 2025. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [12] U.S. Census Bureau. New Population Estimates Show Historic Decline in Net International Migration (Vintage 2025 release). released 2026-01-27. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [13] U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022: U.S. and states, NAICS, detailed employment sizes. 2022. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [14] U.S. Census Bureau. County Business Patterns 2023, United States file (cbp23us.zip). 2023 (released 2025-06-26). Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [15] U.S. Census Bureau. County Business Patterns: 2023 datasets page. release dated 2025-06-26. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [16] U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics 2024, United States file (nonemp24us.zip). 2024. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [17] U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics tables page (2024 NES tables dated 2026-09-29). release listing. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [18] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 national file (oesm25nat.zip). May 2025. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [19] Federal Highway Administration. Highway Statistics 2024, Table VM-1 (updated February 2026). 2024. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [20] National Archives, eCFR. 49 CFR 376.12, Lease requirements (eCFR, version of 2026-10-01). current as of 2026-10-01. Accessed 2026-10-31.

Tier 2: trade bodies, market research, company data (2)

• [21] American Trucking Associations. Economics and Industry Data. carrier figures as of June 2025. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [22] Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. Industry/Owner-Operator Facts. undated fact sheet; fleet table from MCMIS December 2020. Accessed 2026-10-31.

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (1)

• [23] Land Line (OOIDA). Motus problems lead to continued pause on biennial update requirement. published 2026-09-10. Accessed 2026-10-31.