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How to become a truck driver

Truck drivers usually have a high-school diploma and attend a professional truck-driving school, and they must have a commercial driver's license (CDL). Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers earned a median $58,640 a year in May 2025, and BLS projects 3.8% growth in the job count from 2025 to 2035, with about 214,500 openings a year. Typical entry education: postsecondary nondegree award.

The steps

1. Finish high school or the equivalent. Most companies require their truck drivers to have the diploma or equivalent.
   BLS wording

   “Most companies require their truck drivers to have a high school diploma or equivalent.”

2. Attend a truck-driving school. Many prospective drivers attend a professional truck-driving school, where they learn to maneuver large vehicles on highways or through crowded streets and learn the federal laws and regulations governing interstate truck driving. Students may attend a private truck-driving school or a community-college program that lasts between three and six months, and receive a certificate of completion when they finish.
   BLS wording

   “Many prospective drivers attend professional truck driving schools, where they take training courses to learn how to maneuver large vehicles on highways or through crowded streets. During these classes, drivers also learn the federal laws and regulations governing interstate truck driving. Students may attend either a private truck-driving school or a program at a community college that lasts between 3 and 6 months. Upon finishing their classes, drivers receive a certificate of completion.”

3. Meet your state's CDL qualifications. Qualifications for a CDL vary by state but generally include passing both a knowledge test and a driving test. Endorsements show the ability to drive a specialized type of vehicle; drivers transporting hazardous materials must have the hazardous materials endorsement, which requires an additional knowledge test and a background check. Federal regulations require CDL drivers to keep a clean driving record and pass a physical exam every two years, and CDL drivers are subject to random testing for drug or alcohol abuse.
   BLS wording

   “Qualifications for obtaining a CDL vary by state but generally include passing both a knowledge test and a driving test. ... Drivers can get endorsements to their CDL that show their ability to drive a specialized type of vehicle. Truck drivers transporting hazardous materials (HAZMAT) must have a hazardous materials endorsement (H). Getting this endorsement requires passing an additional knowledge test and a background check. Federal regulations require CDL drivers to maintain a clean driving record and pass a physical exam every two years. They are also subject to random testing for drug or alcohol abuse.”

4. Train with a mentor driver, normally for several weeks. After truck-driving school and being hired, drivers normally receive several weeks of on-the-job training, driving with an experienced mentor-driver in the passenger seat to learn more about the specific type of truck they will drive and the material they will transport.
   BLS wording

   “After completing truck-driving school and being hired by a company, drivers normally receive several weeks of on-the-job training. During this time, they drive a truck accompanied by an experienced mentor-driver in the passenger seat. This period of on-the-job training is given so that the new drivers will learn more about the specific type of truck they will drive and material they will transport.”

Steps follow the Occupational Outlook Handbook: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers, read 2026-09-28. The state-specific hours, exams and fees are below.

How long it takes

A private truck-driving school or a community-college program of three to six months, then normally several weeks of on-the-job training with a mentor driver.

None of the 30 sourced states sets an on-the-job-hours requirement for this trade; the state pages carry the steps each one does require.

What it costs

Published license and application fees in the 26 sourced states with one (a city's or county's where the state licenses only locally) run from $3 to $200 depending on the state and tier; exam-vendor fees are separate where one applies. What it costs to start in each state is in the table below; the full tier-by-tier fees are on each state page.

License-cost calculator: every published fee for one state, itemised →

Commercial driver's license (CDL)

Federal Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) regulations set the minimum requirements for training that entry-level drivers must complete before being permitted to take certain CDL skills or knowledge tests; exceptions apply. When a driver successfully completes the course, the training provider submits the certification to FMCSA through the Training Provider Registry. Official page →

License requirements by state

Of the 30 states sourced so far for truck drivers, 30 require a worker to hold a state license or certification. Each row is read from the pages its record names and dated on the state page.

"State license for workers": "Required" where a state passage says a worker needs a license or certification, "None at state level" where one says none is needed, "Not stated" where the pages read do not say; the state page gives what they do say about where licensing sits. "First license after" is the on-the-job hours to the first license on the main path that takes 2,000 or more of them (a separate, narrower license a state also offers, such as a residential-only one, is not counted; the state page names it); its years are the hours at 2,080 a year (≈), a state's minimum years where it sets one (at least), or the years a state's own page gives for those hours (as published); "varies" means the state licenses contractors, states experience in years, or licenses locally. "Starting fee" is what a worker pays to start working: the published state fees for the registrations, trainee or apprentice credentials, learner's permit and federal steps held before any experience; exam-vendor fees are extra. "None required": the state licenses no one at the worker level (only contractors, or only cities and counties). "None listed": the state licenses workers but lists no credential before the first license. "Not stated": the pages read do not say whether a worker needs a license. "No state fee": the only start step is federal (EPA 608). "Not published": a start step's fee is not published. A place named beside a figure marks a city's or county's fee, a local example. The license-cost calculator also totals what it takes to hold the first license. Licensing layer vintage 2026-09. The remaining 21 of the 50 states and DC carry pay and employment now and gain this section as each board is read. Compare time and cost across every sourced path →

Apprenticeships

The Handbook's account of becoming a truck driver does not mention apprenticeship: it describes truck-driving school and then, normally, several weeks of on-the-job training with a mentor driver. The federal Apprenticeship Finder searches apprenticeship openings by occupation and by city, state or ZIP code. Apprenticeship Finder →

U.S. Department of Labor records list 9,739 registered apprentices active across the 50 states and DC in fiscal year 2024 under the occupation titles DOL maps to heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; the state pages give each state's count and, where enough apprentices carry a wage DOL counts, the median starting and completing wages (how they are counted). Apprentice counts and wages in every state → · what those wages come to at your hours a week →

What truck drivers earn, by state

Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers (SOC 53-3032) earned a national median of $58,640 a year in May 2025, $28.19 an hour, with 2,062,040 employed. Alaska paid the most, $70,100, 20% above the national median.

Top five by median annual wage: Alaska ($70,100), Washington ($64,760), District of Columbia ($64,170), New Jersey ($63,570), Massachusetts ($63,030). Lowest five: Louisiana ($49,320), West Virginia ($49,480), New Mexico ($50,500), Florida ($50,640), South Carolina ($51,130).

"Per 1,000 jobs" is how concentrated the trade is in that state's workforce. A state can pay well and still have few openings; the employment column and this one together say how much of a market there is.

As files: pay by state (CSV) · pay by metro area (CSV) · state licensing requirements (CSV) · all files and how to credit them.

Job outlook, 2025 to 2035

BLS projects 3.8% growth in employment from 2025 to 2035 (2,221,200 to 2,305,000 jobs) and about 214,500 openings a year over the decade, counting growth and replacement.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program, Table 1.2 Occupational projections, 2025–35, and worker characteristics, 2025, retrieved 2026-10-03. Openings count growth plus the workers who leave the occupation.

Common questions

Sources

• Occupational Outlook Handbook: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers, read 2026-09-28: the steps, training length and licensing pattern.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates, retrieved 2026-10-03: every wage and employment figure. How the numbers are built.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program, Table 1.2, retrieved 2026-10-03: growth, openings and entry education.
• State licensing authorities, one per state, each cited and dated on the state page; layer vintage 2026-09.