How Many For-Hire Trucking Companies Are There? Fleet Size Breakdown
As of FMCSA's Company Census File refreshed 2026-11-08, 1,368,831 active USDOT records with a US address list for-hire authority. 760,154 (55.5%) report one power unit, and 1,269,751 (92.8%) report five or fewer, so the typical for-hire carrier is a one-truck business.
By TruckerStack Editorial, AK Digital Marketing LLC · Published 2026-11-09 · Updated 2026-11-09 · checked against the official sources cited · Editorial policy · Not insurance, legal or financial advice.
For-hire carriers by fleet size
We counted census records with status Active, a US physical address, and 'AUTHORIZED FOR HIRE' in the operation classification, grouped by the power units the carrier reported.
| Reported fleet size | Active for-hire records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Blank or 0 power units | 202,156 | 14.8% |
| 1 power unit | 760,154 | 55.5% |
| 2 to 5 power units | 307,441 | 22.5% |
| 6 to 20 power units | 73,298 | 5.4% |
| 21 to 100 power units | 21,005 | 1.5% |
| 101 or more power units | 4,771 | 0.3% |
| All active for-hire (US) | 1,368,831 | 100% |
Updated 2026-11-09. Source: FMCSA Company Census File, file refreshed 2026-11-08, queried 2026-11-09. A few records have no power-unit value, so buckets sum to within 6 of the total.
Scope of operations
| Measure (same filter) | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Interstate operation (carrier_operation = A) | 515,307 | 37.6% |
| Hazardous materials indicator = Y | 98,217 | 7.2% |
Updated 2026-11-09. Same source and date. Interstate carriers need the federal filings in our BMC-91X filing guide.
How to read these numbers
- Self-reported: power units come from the carrier's MCS-150 update, which can be out of date.
- Records, not companies: one business can hold more than one USDOT record.
- For-hire label: the classification can include carriers that also operate private fleets or exempt for-hire.
- Moves daily: FMCSA refreshes the file; our figure is a snapshot dated above.
Why fleet size matters for money decisions
Fleet size changes which products fit. A one-truck carrier waiting 30 or more days on a broker invoice looks at invoice factoring; a five-truck fleet also compares insurance and fuel programs. See freight factoring companies and how much factoring costs for the contract terms to check, commercial truck insurance for the federal minimums, and fuel cards for fleet fuel programs. Look up any individual carrier in the DOT lookup.
Method
Dataset az4n-8mr2, filter: status_code = 'A' and classdef like '%AUTHORIZED FOR HIRE%' and phy_country = 'US', count by numeric power_units. No estimates or modeling.
Related
- Commercial truck insurance hub
- Insurance minimums table
- Authority & insurance checker
- Check any carrier's insurance on file
- Freight factoring companies
- TruckerStack data reports
FAQ
How many for-hire trucking companies are there in the US?
FMCSA's Company Census File, refreshed 2026-11-08, has 1,368,831 active records with a US address and for-hire authority classification.
How many trucking companies have only one truck?
760,154 active for-hire records (55.5%) report exactly one power unit.
How many for-hire carriers operate interstate?
515,307 of the 1,368,831 active for-hire records (37.6%) are coded as interstate operations.
Is the number of power units reliable?
It is self-reported on the MCS-150 and can be outdated, so treat the buckets as FMCSA's recorded values, not audited fleet counts.
Where does this data come from?
The FMCSA Company Census File on data.transportation.gov, queried 2026-11-09 after the file's 2026-11-08 refresh.