Driver pay benchmarks 2026: what the wheel actually pays right now

Pay across the driving economy fragmented further in 2025 and into 2026. The freight cycle that pushed company-driver pay to record highs in 2022 has not fully unwound — base mileage rates are off their peaks but still 15 to 20 percent above 2019 levels for most CDL segments. Gig and last-mile pay moved the other direction, with rideshare per-mile rates compressing in major metros as platforms tightened their take rates and surge pricing windows narrowed.

The benchmarks below pull from carrier job postings, FMCSA driver compensation surveys, the American Trucking Associations 2025 Driver Compensation Study, and the per-trip earnings disclosures that Uber and Lyft now publish in markets with pay-floor laws. Where the source data is thin or self-reported, the ranges below favor the bottom and middle of the distribution rather than headline numbers in recruiter ads.

CDL company drivers: long haul, regional, local

OTR (over-the-road) solo company drivers. Base mileage pay for experienced solo OTR drivers at large carriers runs $0.58 to $0.74 per mile, with most fleets clustered between $0.62 and $0.68. Per-diem programs reduce the headline rate by roughly $0.10 to $0.13 per mile but increase take-home by lowering taxable income — the math depends on home state and number of nights out. Sign-on bonuses for experienced drivers are back in the $3,000 to $8,000 range at most carriers, down from $15,000-plus during the 2022 driver shortage, and typically pay out in installments over 12 months.

Regional dry van. Regional runs that get drivers home weekly pay $0.62 to $0.80 per mile, with the higher end concentrated in the Northeast and West Coast on lanes with tight capacity. Hourly equivalents land roughly between $24 and $32 per hour after factoring in average weekly miles of 2,000 to 2,400.

Local CDL Class A. Local and dedicated runs with daily home time pay $25 to $34 per hour, with overtime above 40 hours at carriers that classify drivers as non-exempt. Tanker and hazmat-endorsed local work is at the top of that range; dry van and reefer local runs sit closer to $26 to $28. LTL line-haul drivers at union carriers — primarily Old Dominion, ABF, and the remaining Yellow successor lanes — earn $32 to $38 per hour plus full benefits, the highest hourly bracket in the CDL economy outside of specialized hazmat.

Owner-operators leased to carriers. Percentage-of-load pay still dominates the leased owner-operator segment. Carriers are paying 70 to 78 percent of the linehaul revenue, with fuel surcharge passed through at 100 percent. On a $2.10 per mile spot-market lane, that nets the truck $1.47 to $1.64 per mile gross before fuel, tolls, insurance, and the truck payment. Mileage-pay leased contracts run $1.18 to $1.40 per mile all-in.

Amazon DSP and last-mile delivery

Amazon Delivery Service Partners — the franchise-style contracting model Amazon uses for most of its in-house package delivery — pay W-2 drivers $19 to $24 per hour in most markets, with the high end in California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Northeast metros. Routes are typically 9 to 10 hours and drivers are non-exempt, so overtime applies to weeks above 40 hours. Performance bonuses tied to delivery scorecards add $50 to $200 per week for top performers at most DSPs.

Non-Amazon last-mile and same-day delivery for FedEx Ground contractors, OnTrac, and regional carriers spans a wider range — $18 to $26 per hour for W-2 routes and $130 to $220 per route for independent contractor box-truck work. The contractor numbers are gross, before vehicle, fuel, and insurance expenses that typically eat 25 to 40 percent of the headline figure.

Rideshare and app delivery

Rideshare gross earnings averaged $24 to $32 per engaged hour in major U.S. metros in 2025 based on the per-trip disclosures Uber and Lyft now publish in California, New York City, Massachusetts, Washington state, and Minnesota. After vehicle expenses calculated at the IRS standard mileage rate, the engaged-hour net for full-time rideshare drivers lands closer to $13 to $19 per hour in most markets, and lower once unpaid wait time between trips is included in the denominator.

UC Berkeley Labor Center research on California rideshare drivers under Prop 22 estimated post-expense earnings averaging roughly $7 per hour when all on-app time is counted, not just engaged time. Delivery app earnings (DoorDash, Uber Eats, Instacart) run a few dollars lower than rideshare on the same engaged-hour basis in the same markets.

What to watch

Three things will move these numbers in 2026. First, the spot freight market has shown early signs of tightening after the prolonged 2023-2024 downturn — if rates firm up, per-mile CDL pay typically follows within two quarters as carriers compete for capacity. Second, several states beyond California, New York, and Washington are debating minimum pay floors for app-based drivers; passage in even one large state would shift platform economics nationally. Third, the FMCSA driver shortage debate continues to swing carrier recruiting budgets, which is what drove the 2021-2022 pay spike and what would drive the next one.

For drivers shopping rates, the practical move is to benchmark against multiple data sources before signing — not just the recruiter’s pitch — and to read the deductions schedule on owner-operator contracts as carefully as the gross pay number. The all-in rate after settlement deductions is what funds the truck payment and the household.