Methodology and Definitions

Data source and update schedule

Everything on this site is built from public registration data published by the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the Company Census File on data.transportation.gov. We load that data weekly, clean it (for example, removing records with no usable address and correcting obvious city misspellings) and publish it as company pages, listings and statistics. The figures on every page are updated weekly. The statistics pages count U.S. companies; Canadian companies appear in the directory but are not included in those counts.

The data is reported by the companies themselves. FMCSA does not verify every field, and a company's record is only as current as its last filing.

Definitions

Active

A company is active when FMCSA lists its record with an active status. Inactive companies are excluded from counts and statistics, and their contact details are removed from our site.

Carrier, broker and companies with both authorities

A company is a carrier when its FMCSA entity type includes carrier, and a broker when it includes broker. Some companies hold both authorities, and they are counted as a carrier and as a broker. Because the groups overlap, carrier and broker counts added together can be higher than the total number of companies. Where both appear together we state how many companies hold both.

Trucking companies

The “active trucking companies” figure is all active companies minus companies that are only brokers. A company that holds both authorities is included. Directory listing counts on state and city pages include every active company, brokers too, because brokers are listed in the directory.

Power units, fleet size and owner-operators

Power units are the trucks and tractors a company reports to FMCSA. Fleet size is its reported number of power units. We call a company an owner-operator when it reports exactly one power unit. This is an approximation: some one-truck companies are not owner-operators, and some owner-operators run under another company’s authority.

New registrations

A company counts as a new registration in the month of the FMCSA registration date on its record.

Drivers

The number of drivers a company reports in its FMCSA filing, interstate and intrastate combined.

The statistics pages

Page	What it shows and how
Statistics overview	Headline counts of active trucking companies and brokers, the date of the latest data update, and the monthly number of new registrations.
Active companies	Active U.S. trucking companies as defined above, by state and city.
Active brokers	Active U.S. freight brokers, including how many also hold carrier authority.
Fleet & operations	Active U.S. carriers grouped by reported fleet size, with owner-operators, interstate and intrastate operation and hazmat carriers. Averages use companies that report at least one power unit.
Cargo statistics	The cargo types companies say they haul. A company can report several types, so the cargo counts add up to more than the number of companies.
New registrations	Active U.S. companies by month of FMCSA registration date, by state and city.
Fastest growing carriers	Fleet and driver growth over about twelve months. See the next section.

Growth rankings and carrier history

Monthly snapshots

Each month we keep a snapshot of every active for-hire company’s reported power units, drivers, state and city. The company history charts and the growth rankings are built from these snapshots. A snapshot is what a company had on file with FMCSA at that date. Months for which we have no snapshot are bridged by a dashed line on company charts: that line is an estimate between the two real values, and the monthly table lists only real snapshots. Our history starts with the November 2024 snapshot, so the longest comparison covers 24 monthly snapshots (November 2024 to the latest).

How growth is calculated

• We compare the latest snapshot with the one twelve snapshots back, counting both ends (for example October 2026 with November 2025). If that month is missing we use the month next to it.
• Growth is the end value minus the starting value. Percent growth is that change divided by the starting value.
• A missing value means the company did not report it and is shown as unknown, never as zero. A reported zero is shown as zero.
• Percent growth is not calculated when the starting value is zero.

Who is included

• Only companies present in both snapshots, so new registrations and companies that stopped operating are not ranked. New registrations are on their own page.
• Active U.S. carriers only (including companies that also hold broker authority). Canadian companies and passenger carriers are excluded.
• At least 5 power units at the start and at the end of the period, so very small fleets do not dominate the list.
• No more than 10,000 power units at either date. Some FMCSA records carry placeholder values far above any real fleet (for example 100,000 units, later corrected to 1), which would otherwise distort the totals.
• Percent rankings need at least 10 power units (or 10 drivers) at the start. A company that grows from 2 trucks to 8 would otherwise outrank every large fleet.
• Each ranking shows the top 100 companies.

State pages

• Each state page uses the same carriers and rules as the national ranking, limited to carriers whose registered address is in that state at the latest snapshot. A carrier that moved states is counted where it is registered now.
• State totals add up the power units and drivers of the carriers compared, at the start and at the end of the period. Driver totals only include carriers that reported drivers at both dates.
• Carriers with at least 5 power units that appear in only one of the two snapshots are counted separately as newly appearing or no longer appearing, and are not part of the totals.
• A state is ranked only when at least 20 carriers qualify, so a handful of trucks cannot place a small state first or last. States below that are shown without a rank.
• A state page opens on the 12-month comparison; you can also compare over 3, 6 or 24 monthly snapshots.
• The fleet-size filter (5–10, 11–50, 51–250 or 251+ power units) groups carriers by their size at the start of the period, not at the end, so a carrier that grew is not moved into a larger group. The totals and tables then cover only that group.
• A “Hiring now” label means the company currently has driver jobs posted on Truck Carrier Hub. It is checked each time the page is opened and is not derived from the FMCSA fleet or driver counts, which do not show hiring.

The state map

• The map on the growth page colours each state by the change in the carriers compared (same carriers and rules as the state pages): green for growth, red for shrinkage, grey when fewer than 20 carriers qualify. You can switch between power unit growth, net power units added and driver growth.
• The period buttons cover 3, 6, 12 or 24 monthly snapshots, counting both ends: the 24-month button compares the latest month with the snapshot 23 months before it (October 2026 with November 2024). A period is offered only when we have a snapshot for that month or the one next to it.
• Colours are scaled to the typical range across states, so one extreme state does not wash out the rest. The table under the map shows the exact figures.

Reading the rankings

A large jump can be real growth, a merger or acquisition, or a company correcting an earlier filing. Fleet and driver counts do not always move together: a company may restate its trucks without a matching change in drivers, or the other way round. We rank what is reported and do not try to judge which is which.

What the numbers do not show

• Not hiring or layoffs. A change in a company’s reported driver count does not mean it is hiring or letting drivers go. Job openings appear on our jobs page only when a company posts them itself.
• Not safety or quality. Fleet size and growth say nothing about how safely or reliably a company operates, and they are not a rating.
• Reporting lag. Companies update their filings on their own schedule, so a figure can be months out of date.
• Registered location. The state and city shown are the company’s registered physical address, not necessarily where its trucks operate.

Corrections

If you own a company listed here and want to correct information, claim your listing from your company page. Registration data itself comes from FMCSA and is changed there. For questions about a number or how it was calculated, contact us.