The U.S. freight system moved an estimated 20.1 billion tons of goods worth $18.7 trillion in 2023, measured in constant 2017 dollars. These freight industry statistics span domestic movement, trucking, regional shipments, safety, roads and ports, with each figure tied to its stated population, period and definition.
Key Freight Industry Statistics
The most useful headline measures include:
- In 2023, 20.1 billion tons of goods moved through the U.S. freight transportation system, with an estimated value of $18.7 trillion in constant 2017 dollars.
- In 2023, trucking carried 64.5% of U.S. freight weight and 72.5% of freight value.
- In 2023, trucks carried 13.1 billion tons of domestic freight in the United States.
- In 2023, truck freight generated 2,483.9 billion domestic ton-miles in the United States.
- In 2023, truck freight represented 45% of domestic freight travel by ton-miles.
- In 2023, truck freight was valued at $18.3 trillion, or 72% of U.S. freight value.
- In 2022, the Commodity Flow Survey measured 12.2 billion tons of goods shipments from covered U.S. establishments.
- In 2022, 56.4% of covered U.S. shipment tonnage traveled less than 50 miles.
- As of December 2021, approximately 8.7 million commercial motor-vehicle drivers operated in the United States.
- In 2020, large trucks traveled 302.1 billion vehicle-miles in the United States.
- In 2020, large-truck fatal crashes totaled 4,444 in the United States.
- In 2020, 4,965 people died in crashes involving large trucks in the United States.
- In 2024, the United States had 4.2 million miles of public roads across the 50 states and District of Columbia.
- In 2024, public-road travel totaled 3.3 trillion vehicle-miles in the United States.
- In the first half of 2023, average vessel dwell time at the top 25 U.S. ports was 28.5 hours.
- In 2023, pipelines transported 4.0 billion tons of freight, about 20% of total U.S. freight weight.
Contents
- U.S. freight system scale and value
- Freight transportation modes and commodity movement
- Trucking fleets, carriers and drivers
- Freight distance, regions and business sectors
- Freight safety and crash statistics
- Freight infrastructure, roads, ports and trends
U.S. Freight Industry Statistics: System Scale and Value
The Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2024 estimates that the U.S. freight transportation system moved about 20.1 billion tons of goods worth about $18.7 trillion in 2023. The value is stated in constant 2017 dollars, so it should not be read as a current-dollar shipment total. Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2024
The same 2023 estimate corresponds to an average of 54.8 million tons and $51.2 billion of goods per day. Those are annual totals divided into daily averages; they do not describe every day, route or shipment.
| U.S. freight system measure | Period | Reported result |
|---|---|---|
| Freight moved | 2023 | 20.1 billion tons |
| Freight value | 2023 | $18.7 trillion, constant 2017 dollars |
| Capital assets | 2022 | $8.0 trillion |
| U.S.-Canada freight exchange | 2023 | $773 billion |
Freight transportation capital assets were valued at $8.0 trillion in 2022, including infrastructure and other capital assets identified by BTS. U.S.-Canada freight exchange reached $773 billion in 2023, down 3.0% from the 2022 peak of $796.7 billion; that is a trade measure rather than domestic freight alone.
Compared with 2019, 2023 freight weight was 196 million tons higher, while overall freight value was $250 billion lower in constant 2017 dollars. BTS notes that the comparison uses a separate 2017-dollar value series, and value movements can reflect commodity-price changes.
Trucking carried 64.5% of total U.S. freight weight and 72.5% of total freight value in 2023. These mode shares come from the BTS Freight Analysis Framework, with value reported in constant 2017 dollars.
Freight Transportation Statistics by Mode and Commodity Movement
The Federal Highway Administration’s Freight Analysis Framework estimates that trucks carried 13.1 billion tons of domestic freight in 2023. Truck freight accounted for 2,483.9 billion domestic ton-miles, or 45% of domestic freight travel by ton-miles; ton-miles combine weight and distance and are not shipment counts. Travel | Our Nation’s Highways 2026
Truck freight was valued at $18.3 trillion in 2023, or 72% of freight value, using FHWA’s value adjusted to 2023 dollars. Other mode totals show why weight, value and distance are different ways to describe the system.
| Freight mode or category | 2023 tonnage | 2023 value |
|---|---|---|
| Rail | 1,489 million tons | $699 billion |
| Water | 914 million tons | Not reported here |
| Pipeline | 3,808 million tons | $1.263 trillion |
| Multimode and mail | 719 million tons | $3.655 trillion |
| Air | 7 million tons | Not reported here |
The FAF categories are estimates for U.S. freight, and multimode and mail combines multiple modes with mail. Pipeline commodities also differ from general cargo, so these values should not be treated as interchangeable service types.
The 2022 Commodity Flow Survey measured 12.2 billion tons of shipments worth $18.0 trillion from covered U.S. establishments. That value was 24.0% higher than in 2017 in nominal dollars, not inflation-adjusted dollars. Census Bureau Reports Shipment of U.S. Goods Reached 12.2 Billion Tons and $18.0 Trillion
The CFS is a five-year, shipper-based survey of selected establishments with paid employees. It excludes many industries, farms, government entities and imports as such, so it is not a census of every U.S. shipment.
Trucking Industry Statistics: Fleets, Carriers and Drivers
Large trucks traveled 302.1 billion vehicle-miles in 2020, representing 10.4% of all U.S. motor-vehicle vehicle-miles traveled. Registration counts provide a separate fleet measure: 10,500,105 single-unit trucks and 2,979,277 combination trucks were registered that year. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics 2022
Registered vehicles are not the same as active freight-use vehicles. FMCSA’s large-truck classification and FHWA’s VMT estimation also apply to the travel figures.
As of December 2021, FMCSA counted 757,652 interstate and intrastate hazardous-material motor carriers with recent activity. Recent activity can include inspections, crashes, investigations, audits, registration or other activity, so the count changes over time.
| Carrier or driver measure | Period | Count |
|---|---|---|
| For-hire carriers | December 2021 | 484,970 |
| Private carriers | December 2021 | 202,467 |
| Both for-hire and private | December 2021 | 67,334 |
| Commercial motor-vehicle drivers | December 2021 | Approximately 8.7 million |
| Interstate drivers | December 2021 | About 5.4 million |
| Interstate drivers with CDLs | December 2021 | About 3.5 million |
| Intrastate drivers | December 2021 | About 3.3 million |
| Intrastate drivers with CDLs | December 2021 | About 1.6 million |
The driver estimates include interstate and intrastate drivers, and some intrastate counts are extrapolated. CDL counts are registration-based estimates rather than a direct measure of freight jobs.
Freight Distance, Regional and Business-Sector Data
Distance is concentrated near shipment origins and destinations in the CFS-covered population: 56.4% of all tonnage traveled less than 50 miles in 2022. This is a distribution of covered shipment tonnage, not an average distance.
The South shipped 1.9 billion tons in 2022, representing 40.4% of U.S. goods tonnage, and its shipments were valued at $6.7 trillion in current dollars. The Midwest shipped 3.4 billion tons, or 28.1% of U.S. goods tonnage; the regional results are CFS estimates.
| CFS-covered group or region | 2022 tonnage | 2022 value or share |
|---|---|---|
| South | 1.9 billion tons | $6.7 trillion; 40.4% of tonnage |
| Midwest | 3.4 billion tons | 28.1% of tonnage |
| Manufacturing establishments | 4.9 billion tons | $7.1 trillion |
| Wholesale establishments | 4.1 billion tons | $8.1 trillion |
| Hazardous-material shipments | 2.6 billion tons | $2.1 trillion |
Manufacturing and wholesale figures cover CFS-in-scope establishments, not all businesses in those industries. The hazardous-material series follows CFS coverage rules and uses current dollars.
Customer pickup accounted for 1.4 billion tons in 2022, about 11.4% of covered tonnage, and $1.0 trillion in shipment value. Customer pickup was newly tabulated as a mode in the 2022 cycle, so it should not be assumed to be directly comparable with earlier CFS mode series.
Trucks carried 49.6% of tonnage traveling to Canada in 2022. This is a CFS export-flow measure and does not represent all cross-border freight activity.
Freight Industry Safety and Crash Statistics
FMCSA and NHTSA recorded 4,444 large-truck fatal crashes and 4,965 fatalities in 2020. The fatalities include all people killed in crashes involving large trucks, not truck occupants only.
| Large-truck safety measure | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Fatal crashes | 4,502 | 4,444 |
| Fatal-crash rate per 100 million VMT | 1.50 | 1.47 |
| Fatalities | Not reported here | 4,965 |
| Fatality rate per 100 million VMT | Not reported here | 1.64 |
The series recorded 4,367 large-truck fatal crashes in 2016 and 4,502 in 2019. Comparisons before and after 2016 require caution because NHTSA revised vehicle classification using gross vehicle weight rating and reclassified 329 light pickup trucks as large trucks.
The 2020 rates use estimated VMT and crash counts. They describe fatal crashes or fatalities per 100 million large-truck vehicle-miles, not risk per shipment, driver or carrier.
Freight Infrastructure, Roads, Ports and Future Trends
The United States had 4.2 million miles of public roads in 2024, and public-road travel totaled 3.3 trillion vehicle-miles across the 50 states and District of Columbia. These road-use totals include passenger and freight travel.
Arterials carried 73% of VMT while comprising 11% of road miles in 2024. Local roads carried 13% of VMT while comprising 69% of road miles, showing that road-network length and travel volume describe different infrastructure roles.
Interstate travel totaled 854 billion vehicle-miles, or 26% of all VMT, in 2024. Urban interstates accounted for 583 billion vehicle-miles versus 272 billion on rural interstates; neither figure is freight-only. Travel | Our Nation’s Highways 2026
Vessel dwell time at the top 25 U.S. ports averaged 28.5 hours in the first half of 2023, down from 35.5 hours in 2022. Dwell time is a port measure, not a complete measure of freight transit time. Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2024
East Coast ports handled 102.2 billion kilograms of containerized imports and exports in 2023, compared with 86.3 billion kilograms for West Coast ports. This is containerized trade volume rather than all freight flows.
Pipelines transported 4.0 billion tons of freight in 2023, about 20% of total freight weight. The BTS estimate is largely energy-related bulk freight, which makes it a distinct component of the national freight system.