It really depends on your personality and what type of work you like to do. It also depends on if you like to drive in the city or if you would rather stick to the open highway. So, let me try to answer, is local truck driving a good career the best that I can.
Local truck driving is a good career because it pays well and is a stable job. You get to go home every night or almost every night with weekends off. With most local truck driving positions, you get to move around a lot during the day which is way better for your health than over the road trucking and local truckers are always in high demand. You get a regular routine and routes that you become familiar with, making driving a truck safer.
Local truck driving is also a good career because you can get started quickly. You can get your CDL in as little as a week (that’s how long it took me to get mine) with seven weeks being the max for how long a CDL school lasts.
Seven weeks is how long a CDL school lasts to get your class A CDL. You can get a Class B CDL or a class C CDL in a shorter amount of time because you won’t be pulling a trailer with a class C and more than likely not with a class B.
You Can Get Started Fast
So right from the beginning the first great thing about local truck driving is how fast you can get going in it. You won’t have to go to college for two years, much less four years to start a decent paying career.
I wasn’t joking earlier when I said I got my CDL in a week but technically it was 5 days since I took my driving test on the fifth day. I went to a tech school that had an extremely short CDL program, but it was supposed to be for people who had already driven a truck at least a little bit. I don’t where, maybe on the farm with Bubba. Anyways I went for it and studied extremely hard in four days and made it happen.
Better Physical Health Than Over the Road
Once you’re in local truck driving it is a good career because you get to move around a lot more than over the road trucking so you get way more exercise and can take better care of your physical health. Local truck driving jobs also come with some form health insurance even for families, so it is easier to take better care of your overall health.
Better Mental Health
In addition to your physical health you can take better care of your mental healthas well if you have a family or relatives close by because most local truck driving jobs allow you to go home every night. Obviously if you have a wife and kids you get to see them every day and spend more time with them.
Family Time
Talking about family time, you also can get weekends off with most local truck driving jobs. If you don’t get every weekend off the company rotates the schedule so that everyone can get at least every other weekend off. This allows you to attend family functions or things like church on the weekends, especially if your kiddos play sports.
Even of you are single and don’t have kids, maybe you have family or friends that you want to spend the weekend with or at least spend time with every week.
Set Schedule and Routine
Once you get going in local truck driving, you should at least have a set schedule. Especially with local delivery work, you usually have a set schedule with the same routes every week. It still depends on the company and how they do things but with delivery work especially you have a good chance of getting your own routes, especially if you stay there long enough.
I currently work for US Foods and I have the same routes every week with the same start times. I like it this way because driving can be dangerous, especially in the wintertime so having a set schedule and routine can make truck driving less dangerous, especially in the city.
Routine Makes Truck Driving Less Dangerous
I have all of my routes memorized so I know where to go and exactly where I need to back or maneuver my truck to make a delivery. Truck driving becomes more dangerous if you are always driving to different places and trying to figure out on the fly where to maneuver your truck to put it in the best spot to make a delivery. Wintertime just exasperates these issues.
Good Pay Without a College Degree
To top off all of these great things about local truck driving is the amount of money you can make without a college degree or even two years at a trade school.
Here is a table from ziprecruiter.com that shows the average pay for local truck drivers by state from the highest paying state to the lowest paying state:
| State | Annual Salary | Monthly Pay | Weekly Pay | Hourly Wage |
| Wyoming | $55,521 | $4,627 | $1,068 | $26.69 |
| Massachusetts | $52,837 | $4,403 | $1,016 | $25.40 |
| Montana | $52,318 | $4,360 | $1,006 | $25.15 |
| Arizona | $51,779 | $4,315 | $996 | $24.89 |
| Hawaii | $51,736 | $4,311 | $995 | $24.87 |
| Indiana | $51,447 | $4,287 | $989 | $24.73 |
| New Jersey | $51,339 | $4,278 | $987 | $24.68 |
| Connecticut | $50,879 | $4,240 | $978 | $24.46 |
| Washington | $50,820 | $4,235 | $977 | $24.43 |
| New York | $50,733 | $4,228 | $976 | $24.39 |
| Georgia | $49,949 | $4,162 | $961 | $24.01 |
| Rhode Island | $49,714 | $4,143 | $956 | $23.90 |
| Wisconsin | $49,335 | $4,111 | $949 | $23.72 |
| Tennessee | $49,206 | $4,100 | $946 | $23.66 |
| Minnesota | $49,099 | $4,092 | $944 | $23.61 |
| Alaska | $49,096 | $4,091 | $944 | $23.60 |
| New Hampshire | $48,955 | $4,080 | $941 | $23.54 |
| North Dakota | $48,936 | $4,078 | $941 | $23.53 |
| Ohio | $48,845 | $4,070 | $939 | $23.48 |
| Alabama | $48,782 | $4,065 | $938 | $23.45 |
| Nevada | $48,709 | $4,059 | $937 | $23.42 |
| Maryland | $48,220 | $4,018 | $927 | $23.18 |
| Utah | $47,973 | $3,998 | $923 | $23.06 |
| Louisiana | $47,617 | $3,968 | $916 | $22.89 |
| South Dakota | $47,507 | $3,959 | $914 | $22.84 |
| Nebraska | $47,409 | $3,951 | $912 | $22.79 |
| Florida | $47,076 | $3,923 | $905 | $22.63 |
| New Mexico | $46,909 | $3,909 | $902 | $22.55 |
| Oregon | $46,849 | $3,904 | $901 | $22.52 |
| Virginia | $46,788 | $3,899 | $900 | $22.49 |
| Iowa | $46,556 | $3,880 | $895 | $22.38 |
| Kentucky | $46,490 | $3,874 | $894 | $22.35 |
| Kentucky | $46,490 | $3,874 | $894 | $22.35 |
| Kansas | $46,261 | $3,855 | $890 | $22.24 |
| California | $46,073 | $3,839 | $886 | $22.15 |
| Vermont | $46,026 | $3,835 | $885 | $22.13 |
| South Carolina | $45,385 | $3,782 | $873 | $21.82 |
| Colorado | $45,279 | $3,773 | $871 | $21.77 |
| Delaware | $45,078 | $3,756 | $867 | $21.67 |
| West Virginia | $44,100 | $3,675 | $848 | $21.20 |
| Oklahoma | $44,062 | $3,672 | $847 | $21.18 |
| Pennsylvania | $43,887 | $3,657 | $844 | $21.10 |
| Mississippi | $43,349 | $3,612 | $834 | $20.84 |
| Idaho | $43,140 | $3,595 | $830 | $20.74 |
| Maine | $42,954 | $3,580 | $826 | $20.65 |
| Arkansas | $42,570 | $3,547 | $819 | $20.47 |
| Michigan | $42,478 | $3,540 | $817 | $20.42 |
| Illinois | $42,338 | $3,528 | $814 | $20.35 |
| Texas | $41,646 | $3,470 | $801 | $20.02 |
| Missouri | $41,520 | $3,460 | $798 | $19.96 |
| North Carolina | $38,674 | $3,223 | $744 | $18.59 |
Downside to Being Local Versus On Over The Road
Less Money
This leads us to all of the bad things about being a local truck driver. Local truck drivers make less than over the road truck drivers. However, if you are anything like me you won’t care. I have a family at home, so I want to go home every night and have weekends off. The table seems accurate because I live in Wyoming and I make a little over $4,000 per month net pay after paying for family health insurance.
I make $4,000 per month only working four days a week with weekends off! I also have Wednesdays off. Some delivery drivers actually get a 3-day weekend. I don’t know what kind of lifestyle you are living but I make enough money that my wife doesn’t have to work. She stay home and takes care of our beautiful daughter. Our daughter is still a baby so maybe when she is older my wife can go back to work and we will be doing really well as far as money, but we are doing great.
Competition for The Number of Drivers
I’ve seen online where people say one of the bad things about local truck driving is that the positions are competitive but I didn’t have any trouble get my first driving job and then an even better one after only having 3 months experience.
Anyways, even if they are competitive, there is always a local truck driving job you can get just to get going and get some experience.
On the Job CDL Training
I won’t name any names, but some companies are so desperate for truck drivers that they advertise training on the job to get your CDL. I know this is true because one of the delivery companies that I worked for had drivers helpers to help the driver unload the truck and take the food in. It was in food service delivery. I actually witnessed a couple of people start as helpers, get their learners permit and end up getting their CDL while working for that company.
So, I didn’t feel the brunt of local truck driving jobs being competitive, but I do know from experience that the better companies to work for usually require a little bit of experience. Some of the higher paying jobs like hauling fuel locally also require more experience but you’re talking about making 5- 6 thousand a month or more for those types of jobs.
Decent Pay/Benefits as Soon as You Get Your CDL
It is pretty easy to jump right in and get a local truck driving job that pays at least $4,000 a month as soon as you get your CDL. These jobs usually come with some form of health insurance. You do need to be careful with the health benefits or you will end up paying more than you expected.
Physical Work
I guess one of the good things about being a local truck driver is the loading and unloading. Some of the local truck jobs can be pretty physical and some people find that they would rather sit in the truck longer and just drive rather than get out and have to do a lot of physical work. That’s fine there are a lot of local truck driving jobs where you mainly do a lot of driving like delivering fuel or just hauling Walmart loads from the distribution center to various Walmart’s.
A Lot of Hours
Local truck driving jobs can have a lot of hours but so can over the road. Some of the jobs work at night. Some of the jobs workdays but start anywhere between midnight and 4 in the morning. You could end up working between 60 – 70 hours a week.
You can’t work more than 60 hours over 7 days and you can’t work more than 70 hours over 8 days. This depends on how many hours you work during the day as well. You can’t drive more than 11 hours during the day, and you can’t be on duty for more than 14 hours during the day so you may reach 60 – 70 hours before your 7 – 8 days.
If you reach your max hours you will be required to stay clocked out for at least 34 hours before you can start the cycle over again or you can start the cycle over again regardless if you maxed out your weekly hours or not.
Social Interaction
A lot of the delivery jobs require a lot of social interaction so if you are not a people person, you may want to choose a local driving job that doesn’t require a lot of social interaction. There are jobs like the one mentioned above
Different Types of Driving
City driving in a truck can be very scary for some people so some delivery jobs may not be to your liking. Never fear though. Even if you live in the city there are plenty of local jobs like the oilfield or cattle hauling etc. where you drive more on rural highways or freeways than you do in the city. I think with local driving jobs there may not be the perfect situation for everybody, but everyone can find the most comfortable situation for themselves. Some people just don’t like to spend as much time in the truck as others and vice versa.
Class A CDL
If you have a class A CDL you will have a lot of different types of driving jobs at your disposal. You can be a delivery driver where you grab your truck and trailer and deliver food or freight along a specified route i.e.. Sysco, US Foods, Fed Ex, UPS etc.
You can be a cattle hauler where you haul cattle from farms to meat processing plants or from feedlots to meat processing plants.
You can be a tanker driver delivering fluids such as fuel, crude milk and other products. There are also several water haulers in the oil field.
You can work construction where you haul dirt or building products.
You can be a car hauler where you pick up vehicles and deliver them to car lots. There are an endless amount of choices. Just go to the job boards online and type in CDL A local for your city and see what pops up.
Class B CDL
With a class B CDL you can work in a lot of the fields mentioned above but with smaller loads and you won’t be pulling a trailer. Class B jobs are mainly box trucks, dump trucks, cement mixers etc. There is still an endless amount of opportunity, even with a class B CDL.
Class C CDL
A class C CDL is mainly driving a vehicle where you will be carrying more than 15 passengers like a city or school bus.
What Companies Are the Best for Local Truck Driving?
One of my favorite things about job boards when I was looking for my first and second CDL job were the company reviews by former and current employees. Driving is driving but there are things to watch out for when looking at the company reviews.
Look for reviews saying that the driver was expected to go past their DOT hours limit of 14 for the day. Look for reviews saying that the company doesn’t take good care of their equipment. Job boards like indeed and glassdoor even tell you how much the drivers average pay is for each company. Usually if a company has been around for a long time, has higher starting pay, good benefits and good maintenance reviews in the drivers reviews then you can’t go wrong.
When I was going through my CDL training my advisor told me that the main difference between good and bad companies are how well they take care of their trucks but I have learned there’s other things as well so just do your homework. If you get stuck with a bad company you can usually get away pretty quickly with as little as three weeks experience.
The better companies will be understanding if your current company doesn’t take good care of its drivers.
Frequently Asked Questions About, Is Local Truck Driving a Good Job?
How Much Do Local Truck Drivers Make a Year?
You can see the table above to see how much local truck drivers make by state. Just take the monthly pay and times it by 12. That’s just the average pay though. You can make anywhere from only 30 – 35,000 per year all the way up to over $100,000 dollars or more for hauling more dangerous loads like crude oil in the oilfield.
Is Truck Driving a Bad Job?
Truck driving is not a bad job or there wouldn’t be so many truck drivers. I’ve never been an over the road truck driver, but I have traveled a lot before. Especially if your young, you might want to hit the open road and make a lot of money. It can be lonely and treacherous in the winter, but it can also be an adventure and a way to save money for your future.
As far as local truck driving It is not a bad job. It depends on your personality but as far as jobs go I love it. There are so many options for local truck driving that you can find the right local truck driving job to match your personality.
A bad job is one that you’re not happy at so it depends on you, just give it a try and if you’re not happy then you can always try something else. For me, it is a great job.
Is Being A Truck Driver Hard?
For me, being a local truck driver is usually easy. I run the same routes, so I know where I’m going. I enjoy the physical work, so the hard days are far and few in between. The only time it is hard is during the winter sometimes but that also depends on where you live. I live in Wyoming, so I have very few days if hard winter driving.
Over the road driving can be harder during the winter depending on where you are going but you are allowed by law to pull over and wait out a winter storm if you feel unsafe.
Conclusion
Is local truck driving a good career? It depends on what you want out of life and maybe what your situation is. When I got my CDL I was 40 years old. I worked in seismograph exploration which is oil field related. The oil price dropped from $120 per barrel all the way down to less than $30 haha. Times were crazy.
The company I worked with was going to start traveling around the U.S. instead of being a local job. My wife and I decided it was time for a change. I had tried a pharmaceutical contract delivery route before, and I really enjoyed the independence I had working by myself. I also enjoyed driving, listening to the radio and being able to get out at all of my stops and move around.
As far as the social interaction, all of the people I delivered to were really easy to get along with. This is what made me want to get my CDL so that I could earn more money. It is an exciting job. I really enjoy driving in the city traffic and putting my training to work when backing into tight places.
I have some pretty hard days when I don’t get to drive very much and I spend most of the day unloading but I also have my easier days when I spend most of the day driving and hardly have to unload anything. These different types of days actually balance each other out.
Local truck driving is a good career because there are so many options out there that you will always have work and it can be an enjoyable job depending on your personality.