The American Trucking Associations launches 2026 Driver Compensation Study to provide intelligence on driver pay and benefits
Key takeaways
- ATA’s 2026 study tracks driver pay, benefits, and bonuses across carrier types to guide recruitment and retention strategies.
- Survey data covers pay structures, routes, and incentives, giving fleets actionable insights for competitive driver compensation.
- Participants gain discounted report access, early executive summaries, and a webinar with ATA’s Chief Economist to review results.
American Trucking Associations (ATA) recently launched its survey for the 2026 ATA Driver Compensation Study. The study will produce comprehensive analyses of pay, benefits, and bonuses for drivers across carrier types, trailer types, and routes.
ATA collects proprietary data from hundreds of fleets—including for-hire truckload, less-than-truckload, private, and other commercial carriers—to produce aggregate pay estimates while keeping individual company information confidential.
Survey participants can access benefits, including a discounted copy of the full report for $100, a free executive summary before the report's release, and a no-cost webinar with Bob Costello, ATA chief economist, to review the results. The survey must be completed by March 30.
“In this difficult and prolonged freight recession, the companies with the greatest edge are the ones that have the best data. As a one-of-a-kind benchmarking tool, the Driver Compensation Study provides the crucial, actionable intelligence motor carriers need to recruit and retain their most valuable resource: professional truck drivers,” Costello said. “In order to get as accurate a picture of industry trends as possible, we rely on input from a large cross-section of motor carriers to provide detailed information about their total compensation packages and supply a clear view of how—and how much—trucking companies pay their drivers.”
