Report: Truckers Drove Fewer Miles in 2024 Compared to 2023

“That's a drop of nearly 5,000 miles over last year and the lowest number we've ever achieved.”
Adam Rowe: headshot
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Published on September 25, 2025
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A new survey has plenty of fresh stats about the state of the private trucking industry, with data on the average age of truckers and their vehicles, as well as a look at driver wages and retention numbers.

One of the most interesting takeaways, however, is the average number of miles driven: The most recent data covers 2024, which saw an average of almost 5,000 fewer miles driven per trucker when compared to the previous year.

That’s the fewest miles ever recorded by this particular study. However, the full picture might not be as dire as it sounds.

The National Private Truck Council’s new 2025 Benchmarking Survey found that annual mileage among all respondents had fallen significantly, reaching just 80,400 miles driven on average during the previous year.

How big of a shift is this? Tom Moore, executive vice president of the National Private Truck Council, explained in a recent blog post that it’s “a drop of nearly 5,000 miles over last year and the lowest number we’ve ever achieved in the history of the survey.”

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However, it’s not necessarily bad news. According to Moore, the decrease can be partially explained by a higher number of distribution centers and warehouses. As a result, logistics operations are closer to customers, and their fleets are driving less.

On average, the report found, private fleets have 49 distribution locations, up from an average of 44 in 2023.

Driver retention is a big problem in the industry, so it’s worth taking a look at the new numbers relating to this area of focus. First, the survey found that the average age for all drivers polled had remained at just under 50 years old — 49.4 for 2024, to be exact.

Interestingly, though, driver turnover dropped last year, falling to 18.4% from 20.2% in 2023.

Average driver compensation ticked up just a tad, reaching $91,081 in 2024, up from $89,900 the year prior, a 1.31% increase. (Just for comparison, the inflation rate in 2024 was 2.9%).

Trucks are getting older: Trade cycles for Class 8 trucks averaged 6.6 years overall, up from 6.1.

Granted, all these stats come from the world of trucking in 2024.

A lot has changed in the months since last year: A new government administration kicked off a trade war back in February, with long-lasting impacts that are still rippling through the logistics industry to this day.

If you’re looking for more recent data, take a look at Tech.co’s own logistics statistics page, which covers insights gleaned from monthly surveys with logistics professionals that we conducted between April and August of 2025.

And stay tuned: We’re putting together an upcoming series of in-depth reports on how logistics companies are managing costs today amid tariffs and other regulatory shifts.

Written By

Adam Rowe: headshot

Adam has written at Tech.co for ten years, currently as Fleet & Logistics Editor. He also worked at logistics newletter Inside Lane and was a Forbes Contributor on the publishing industry, for which he was named a Digital Book World 2018 award finalist. His work has appeared in publications including Popular Mechanics and IDG Connect, and his art history book on 1970s sci-fi, ‘Worlds Beyond Time,’ was a 2024 Locus Awards finalist. When not working on his next art collection (out September 2027), he’s tracking the latest news on dash cams, fuel cards, and the future of fleet.

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