Posted By Hit The Road Jack on Jun 01 | 15 comments

The reason we work so hard as truck drivers is to drive home that serious scratch, the cheddar, the bones, you know…the dead presidents in our pockets—MONEY. But how much money are our long hours behind the wheel really paying? The answer isn’t always simple. I mean, salary depends really on where you’re working, how much experience you have, and which company you’re hauling for. A lot of us may recall seeing advertisements on TV showcasing the earning potential of $100,000 a year as a truck driver, but is this realistic, or just one of those old wives’ tales?

Average Annual Truck Driver Income

So when all things are considered, the straight up average salary for truck drivers are $49,000 (as of March 18, 2014.) However, that doesn’t take into part drivers who might not work full-time or compare the differences between independent drivers and company drivers. In fact, the scale can generally range as low as $28,000 annual income all the way to as high as $68,000, according to Payscale.com.

Hourly Truck Driver Wage

If you’re a seasoned driver, you have earning potential you can earn as much as .60 for mile, according to TruckDriverSalary.net. Negotiating rates that are based around mileage instead of hours can be a smart career move for drivers. With that in mind, a truck driver that has an average speed of 70 MPH can bring about $42 an hour. Unfortunately, unless you have been driving for a long time and have a great driving reputation, there’s not huge room for negotiation regarding pay expectations. You pretty much have to earn a lower rate until you are able to be experienced enough to “call the shots.” Plus, earning by mile might not always pay if there’s certain days where traffic or road conditions are unfavorable.

Average Salary of Trucking Types of Jobs

• Class A: $49,000
• CDL Driver: $37,000
• Truck Driver Run OTR: $61,000
• OTR CDL Truck Driver: $75,000
• Dump Truck Driver: $23,000
• CDL Truck Driver: $62,000
• Tank Truck Driver: $23,000
• Bulk Truck Driver: $21,000
• Semi Truck Driver: $22,000
• Tow Truck Driver: $23,000
• Commercial Truck Driver: $24,000
• Route Truck Driver: $22,000

How to Bring Home 6 Figures as a Truck Driver

So you’ve entered trucking intending on earning as much as $100,000 each year—how do you do it? Well, typically, earning that much in the profession is pretty uncommon. In fact, it can take 10 years of experience to start earning about $60k annually. However, it’s likely that drivers retire before they are able to reach that sought-after 6 figure salary.

Someone once told me that there’s two ways to earn a lot of money. 1) You can do a job that no one else CAN do. Or; 2) You do a job no one else WANTS to do. So in the realm of truck driving, here’s a couple CRAZY ways you can earn over $100k annually:

• Ice Road Trucking: Most of us have seen or at least heard of the TV show Ice Road Truckers. If you haven’t, it’s a show that profiles drivers that are brave and skilled enough to drive the extremely hazardous routes north of the Arctic Circle. Reportedly, a 3 month season can potentially have someone earning more than $120,000 a year.
• Truck Driving in Iraq: If you didn’t mind risking possible kidnappings or terrorist attacks, driving trucks through this country to deliver food and supplies could bring home crazy amounts of moola.

But, if you’re not willing to put your butt on the line to bring to earn that cash, how does a truck driver expect to bring home anywhere between $100,000 and $150,000? Owner-operators bring home about this much. However, the costs of maintaining that rig can be so high that after everything gets put into account for that—-you pretty much can cut that earning potential in half. But…net-lease contracts with companies could help you with those costs such as gas.

So what’s the takeaway? Well, although it’s not just a fairytale that there are actually some drivers who can pull in a 6 figure salary, it’s probably not the most common occurrence. However, that doesn’t mean that truck driving isn’t an honest job with pretty good pay. When considering that there aren’t a whole lot of jobs that people can take without college degrees that pay like trucking, it’s still a decent livelihood.  The easiest way to move up financially? Put in your time. It pays to be experienced.