Truck Driving News

In light of the persistent truck driver shortage, it isn't exactly a challenge to find work opportunities these days, whether among motor carriers, retailers, logistics companies or a number of other businesses that employ truckers. Just about everyone is in hiring mode. With demand outpacing supply, companies are actively recruiting commercial truck drivers and are also increasing what they pay.

But to improve your chances of finding the very best trucking jobs, it's helpful to know about the states that have the highest concentrations of commercial transportation-related positions.

Here are the top five, as tallied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As you'll see, most of them are within the nation's midsection and in states that have fairly low population levels relative to other parts of the U.S. where more people and businesses are located:

1. Arkansas
Of all 50 states, including the District of Columbia, the Razorback State has the highest concentration of roles in the commercial truck driving space. Not including truckers who are self-employed, there are approximately 32,500 heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in Arkansas. This means that of every 1,000 jobs in the state, around 27 of them involve driving a truck. 

2. Nebraska
With roughly 26 positions per 1,000, the Cornhusker State has the second-highest number of trucking-related roles, according to government figures. Some of the state's biggest employers are in traditional logistics services, drayage, domestic intermodal, warehousing and dry van, among other services.

3. Iowa
The state with the third-largest concentration of trucking jobs is Iowa, Nebraska's neighbor to the east. With just shy of 37,200 truckers who work in the Hawkeye State, the commercial truck driving employment ratio in this part of the U.S. is right around 25 jobs per 1,000.

4. North Dakota
North Dakota is yet another state in which employers of all sizes are earnestly looking for people who have their CDL licenses. Indeed, even though there are less than 10,000 professional truck drivers who call North Dakota home, the employment per thousand jobs ratio is 24.62. The need is so great here that the state has the highest annual mean wage of the top five states for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers ($54,920).

5. Wyoming
At fewest than 560,000 people, Wyoming has the lowest population in the entire country and the second-lowest population density, bested barely by Alaska. Yet despite these facts, the Cowboy State rounds out the top five states with the highest concentration of commercial truckers. The employment-per-thousand job ratio is 22.40. Just shy of 6,000 truckers live in Wyoming.

For most of 2022, the transportation sector has added truck transportation jobs. It did so again in November, totaling a seasonally adjusted 1.6 million over the 30-day period, FreightWaves reported from BLS data. That's around 1,300 more than during October, despite it being a shorter month comparatively.

If you're in a position that enables you to move to another part of the country, these are a few of the states in which you may want to relocate.