10-4! Employment and wages of truck drivers in 2015

October 4 is National CB Radio Day. CB or “citizens band” radios were widely used by truck drivers and other motorists to communicate with one another over short distances. In the 1970s, CB radios also became a popular way for people in all walks of life to communicate with a wide audience. Think of CB radios as an early form of social media. CB radio users had a special set of codes to communicate. Probably the best-known code was 10-4, which meant “understood,” “OK,” or “message received.” That’s why October 4, or 10-4, became National CB Radio Day.

Most people associate CB radios with truck drivers. In May 2015, there were 1,678,280 heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in the United States. Their median annual wage was $40,260. North Dakota, Arkansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Wyoming had the highest concentration of truck drivers in 2015. We measure this concentration with the location quotient. A location quotient greater than 1 means the state has a higher share of employment than the national average.

Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Ohio had the largest number of heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in May 2015. Truck drivers in Alaska had the highest median annual wage, $51,280.

These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics program. To learn more, see "Occupational Employment and Wages — May 2015" (HTML) (PDF).