Trucking Generated $792 Billion in Revenue in 2019

• August 21, 2020
• Madeline S.

Trucking continues to dominate the transportation industry when it comes to moving freight. The trucking industry generated nearly $792 billion in revenue in the United States in 2019, according to data from the American Trucking Association (ATA).

Trucking’s 2019 revenues accounted for 80.4% of the nation’s freight bill, highlighting just how valuable trucking is to the overall transportation industry. In total, trucking was responsible for moving 11.84 billion tons of freight.

Although the trucking industry faced many challenges this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been rebounding well. This is in part due to its strong finish in 2019.

“Despite a challenging year, the data contained in American Trucking Trends shows the industry was in good shape entering the global pandemic,” says ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Trends continue to be an indispensable, one-stop resource for decision makers to have the latest information about the state of the trucking industry.”

These numbers are only some of the highlights in the annual ATA report. Data shows that women only make up 6.7% of drivers, meaning there is still a lot of improvement needed in gender equality in the industry. However, minorities accounted for 41.5% of drivers.

In addition to moving the majority of freight in the U.S., trucks were also responsible for moving 67.7% of surface freight between the U.S. and Canada, and 83.1% of cross-border trade with Mexico, totally $772 billion of goods. These high cross-border numbers dipped during COVID-19 but have since returned to these pre-pandemic levels.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t large transportation companies responsible for most of the trucking industry’s success. ATA data showed that most carriers are smaller companies, with 91.3% of fleets operating six or fewer trucking and 97.4% operating 20 or fewer.

The ATA report also highlighted how the industry continues to grow. The industry employed 7.95 million people in trucking-related jobs, up 140,00 from 2018. Despite some dip in employment due to the pandemic, trucking companies are still expanding in 2020.

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