Truck Driver Salary by Metro Area: Lincoln, Nebraska Beats San Francisco
Truck driver salary by metro area has an unlikely champion. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, the best-paid metro for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers is Lincoln, Nebraska, at a mean annual wage of $77,110. Not San Francisco. Not Seattle. Lincoln.
Lincoln pays roughly $10,000 a year more than the San Francisco metro and about $18,000 more than the national median of $58,640 reported in the May 2025 data. If you are picking where to drive from, that number is worth more than any recruiter's sign-on bonus pitch, because it repeats every year. Here is the top ten and what the columns actually mean.
Truck driver salary by metro area: the top ten
| Metropolitan area | Mean hourly | Mean annual |
|---|---|---|
| Lincoln, NE | $37.07 | $77,110 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | $32.48 | $67,560 |
| Fairbanks, AK | $32.40 | $67,400 |
| La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN | $32.03 | $66,630 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $31.86 | $66,270 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $31.61 | $65,740 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | $31.38 | $65,260 |
| Bend-Redmond, OR | $30.45 | $63,330 |
| Anchorage, AK | $30.40 | $63,220 |
| Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA | $30.08 | $62,560 |
Metro figures are from the May 2023 OEWS release for occupation 53-3032, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers. The BLS's own note: these are mean wages, and annual figures are the hourly mean times 2,080 hours.
Why a Nebraska town outpays the coasts
Lincoln's edge is not generosity; it is labor-market geometry. The OEWS table reports a location quotient of 2.04 for Lincoln, meaning truck driving jobs are about twice as concentrated there as the national average. Freight corridors, food processing, and distribution centers cluster in the region, and when an occupation is that concentrated relative to the local workforce, employers compete for drivers. Coastal metros have far more drivers in absolute numbers, New York alone employs over 71,000, but drivers are a thin slice of those labor markets, so the wage pressure is lower.
Small correction for your mental model: the biggest metros in the country do not show up anywhere near the top of the pay list for this occupation. Employment concentration beats metro size.
How to read these numbers before you negotiate
Three rules, each tied to something observable in the data.
First, read the mean as the ceiling of ordinary, not the offer. Nationally the median annual wage is $58,640 (May 2025), while the 10th percentile sits under $40,140 and the 90th above $79,380. If your offer is within a few thousand of the local mean, you are being paid like everyone else, not underpaid.
Second, remember what is missing. OEWS excludes overtime, shift differentials, and non-production bonuses, and it covers employees only, not owner-operators or the self-employed. Long-haul drivers are usually paid per mile, not per hour, plus detention pay, stop pay, and layover pay. Ask recruiters about practical miles per week and the per-mile rate; the converted hourly figure in the table is the BLS's translation, not how the check is cut.
Third, compare hourly when hours vary. Some local driving jobs are 40 hours; regional and long-haul runs are not, and many drivers fall under the federal motor carrier overtime exemption, which means hours past 40 do not automatically mean time-and-a-half. A $32 hourly mean at 60 hours a week is a very different job than a $37 mean at 45.
Frequently asked questions
What is the median salary for a truck driver?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $58,640 for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in May 2025. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $40,140 and the highest 10 percent earned more than $79,380.
Which metro area pays truck drivers the most?
In the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release, Lincoln, Nebraska tops the metro list for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers at a mean annual wage of $77,110, ahead of the San Francisco and Seattle metros.
Do truck driver wages include overtime?
No. BLS OEWS figures cover base wages and include commissions and production bonuses but exclude overtime, shift differentials, and non-production bonuses. Many long-haul drivers fall under the federal motor carrier overtime exemption.
Are BLS truck driver salaries hourly or per mile?
BLS converts whatever drivers are paid into hourly and annual wage equivalents. Most long-haul drivers are actually paid per mile plus accessorial pay for detention, stops, and layovers, so the per-mile rate and miles offered matter more than the converted hourly figure.
Related reading: BLS OEWS Wage Percentiles Explained · How to Compare Job Offers Across Cities · Electrician Salary by Metro Area · Median vs Mean Wage: Which to Use When Negotiating