Truck towing statistics span vehicle use, trailer configurations, axle and weight scenarios, fuel economy, emissions, and the workforce moving freight. The measures below cover the United States, with periods ranging from the historical 1992 fleet to Census estimates for 2021, EPA model-year and test data, and BLS figures from 2024 and 2025.
Key Truck Towing Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In 2021, 29,774.2 thousand U.S. commercial-activity vehicles traveled 538,332.7 million vehicle miles in the Census VIUS table.
- In 2021, 1,849.2 thousand vehicles pulling single trailers traveled 111,434.3 million miles in the United States excluding New Hampshire.
- In 2021, 97.7 thousand vehicles pulling double trailers traveled 6,957.3 million miles in the United States excluding New Hampshire.
- In 2021, 1.3 thousand vehicles pulling triple trailers were estimated in the United States excluding New Hampshire, while their mileage was suppressed.
- In 2021, 1,130.3 thousand single-unit trucks pulled trailers and traveled 19,965.1 million miles in the Census estimate.
- In 2021, 2,121.8 thousand truck tractors were estimated in the United States excluding New Hampshire.
- In 2021, 27,652.3 thousand single-unit trucks were estimated in the same Census vehicle-type table.
- In 1992, 802,129 trucks with five or more axles were estimated in the United States.
- In that 1992 fleet, 435,477 vans were recorded as the largest listed body-type category.
- In 1992, 304,707 truck-plus-trailer combinations at five axles were reported in the historical FHWA table.
- FHWA’s study configuration used one trailer, five axles and 80,000 pounds GVW in a U.S. control scenario.
- Another FHWA scenario used three trailers, seven axles and 105,500 pounds GVW.
- In model year 2024, truck-SUV fuel economy reached 25.7 mpg in the EPA vehicle-type average.
- In model year 2024, 2% of new pickups were BEVs and none were PHEVs in EPA’s vehicle-type summary.
- In June 2024, truck transportation represented 23.5% of transportation-and-warehousing employment in the United States.
- In May 2025, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers had a median annual wage of $58,640 in the United States.
- BLS projects 214,500 heavy and tractor-trailer truck-driver openings per year on average from 2025 through 2035.
Contents
- Trailer use and vehicle miles
- Trailer configuration data
- Historical heavy-truck fleet
- Weights, axles and towing configurations
- Fuel economy and emissions
- Employment, wages and workforce trends
Truck Towing Statistics: Trailer Use and Vehicle Miles
The Census Bureau’s VIUS211E: Commercial Activity by Registration State, Vehicle Type, and Trailer Configuration for the U.S. (excluding New Hampshire) and States: 2021 reports estimates in thousands of vehicles and millions of vehicle miles. Its commercial-activity table provides the clearest current-use snapshot here, but categories should not be casually added because classifications can overlap.
| 2021 VIUS category | Vehicles (thousand) | Vehicle miles (million) |
|---|---|---|
| All commercial-activity vehicles | 29,774.2 | 538,332.7 |
| No trailer pulled or not used | 25,859.2 | 380,596.6 |
| Single trailer | 1,849.2 | 111,434.3 |
| Double trailers | 97.7 | 6,957.3 |
| Triple trailers | 1.3 | Suppressed |
| Aggregate trailer-pulled category | 1,130.3 | 19,965.1 |
Source: VIUS211E, U.S. Census Bureau. The table excludes New Hampshire, and the aggregate trailer-pulled row does not equal the sum of every displayed configuration because of table scope and rounding.
The broad vehicle-type rows add context without creating a tow-rating comparison. Single-unit trucks numbered 27,652.3 thousand and accumulated 411,216.6 million vehicle miles, while truck tractors numbered 2,121.8 thousand and accumulated 127,116.1 million miles.
The same source estimates 55.5 thousand truck tractors with no trailer pulled or not used, traveling 1,041.7 million miles. Truck tractors pulling single trailers matched the 1,849.2-thousand-vehicle and 111,434.3-million-mile figures above, while double-trailer tractors recorded 97.7 thousand vehicles and 6,957.3 million miles.
Truck Towing Data by Trailer Configuration
The configuration rows show why “towing” is not one uniform activity. A single-trailer tractor, a double-trailer combination, and a vehicle whose configuration was not reported represent different operational populations.
- Truck tractors with trailer configuration not reported numbered 118.1 thousand and traveled 7,570.6 million miles in 2021.
- Single-unit trucks with no trailer pulled or not used numbered 25,803.7 thousand and traveled 379,554.9 million miles in 2021.
- Single-unit trucks pulling trailers numbered 1,130.3 thousand and traveled 19,965.1 million miles in 2021.
- Single-unit trucks with trailer configuration not reported numbered 718.3 thousand and traveled 11,696.6 million miles in 2021.
- Vehicles with trailer configuration not reported numbered 836.4 thousand and traveled 19,267.2 million miles in 2021.
These are U.S. estimates excluding New Hampshire from the Census VIUS table. The source identifies the total reported vehicle miles as 538,332.7 million, including 111,434.3 million by single-trailer truck tractors, but overlapping classifications mean the rows are not mutually exclusive totals.
Triple-trailer vehicle miles are marked suppressed for disclosure control. No mileage value should be inferred from the 1.3-thousand vehicle estimate.
Historical Heavy Truck and Trailer Fleet Statistics
For historical context, FHWA’s TS&W Study Report #2 uses a 1992 Truck Inventory and Use Survey-based estimate of the U.S. fleet of trucks with five or more axles. That fleet contained 802,129 vehicles, so these figures describe an earlier heavy-truck population rather than current market size.
| 1992 five-or-more-axle body type | Vehicles |
|---|---|
| Vans | 435,477 |
| Platform trucks | 216,763 |
| Dump trucks | 98,865 |
| Liquid-or-gas tank trucks | 58,524 |
| Grain-body trucks | 41,217 |
| Dry-bulk tank trucks | 16,020 |
| Auto-transport trucks | 14,626 |
| Other body types | 25,374 |
Source: FHWA, TS&W Study Report #2. The body-type categories are historical survey estimates and should not be treated as a current fleet census.
The same historical table reported 304,707 truck-plus-trailer-at-five-axles vehicles and 99,298 truck-plus-trailer-at-six-axles-or-more vehicles in 1992. Those configuration counts provide a period-specific view of heavy combinations, not a measure of present-day towing adoption.
Truck Towing Capacity, Axles, Weights and Configurations
FHWA’s comprehensive truck size and weight study presents control configurations and legal-weight scenarios. These are study configurations, not prevalence estimates or universal tow ratings for every truck model.
| Configuration in FHWA study | Axles | Gross vehicle weight |
|---|---|---|
| One trailer | 5 | 80,000 lb |
| One trailer | 5 | 88,000 lb |
| One trailer | 6 | 91,000 lb |
| One trailer | 6 | 97,000 lb |
| Two 28- or 28.5-foot trailers | 5 | 80,000 lb |
| Two 33-foot trailers | 5 | 80,000 lb |
| Three trailers | 7 | 105,500 lb |
| Three trailers | 9 | 129,000 lb |
Source: USDOT Comprehensive Truck Size and Weight Limits Study presentation. The listed values describe modeled study configurations.
FHWA’s traffic-classification guide identifies class 9 as a five-axle tractor-semitrailer class. It identifies class 11 as a five-or-fewer-axle multi-trailer class and class 13 as a seven-or-more-axle multi-trailer class.
The distinction matters when interpreting towing capacity statistics: axle count, trailer count and gross vehicle weight describe a configuration, while a vehicle’s rated capacity depends on the particular vehicle and operating conditions. The supplied FHWA figures do not measure how common each configuration was.
Truck Towing Fuel Economy and Emissions Statistics
EPA’s vehicle-type and test data help separate fleet trends from towing-cycle outcomes. Truck-SUV fuel economy reached 25.7 mpg in model year 2024, up 1.0 mpg from 2023, but this is an EPA vehicle-type average rather than fuel economy while pulling a trailer.
In EPA’s model-year-2024 summary, BEVs represented 2% of new pickups and PHEVs represented 0%. Truck SUVs were 4% BEV and 4% PHEV, and EPA attributed a 1.0-mpg truck-SUV increase to those electrified shares; EPA also attributed 0.3 mpg of pickup fuel-economy improvement to the 2% BEV share.
| EPA chassis-test result | FTP | US06 |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 F150 listed configuration | 322 g/mile | 515 g/mile |
| 2019 F150 alternative configuration | 359 g/mile | 591 g/mile |
| 2022 F250 listed configuration | 454 g/mile | 622 g/mile |
| 2022 F250 native/alternative comparison row | 707 g/mile | 808 g/mile |
Source: EPA, Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards Regulatory Impact Analysis. These are three-test-average chassis results under specified dynamometer cycles, not real-world towing measurements; the table reports a 15% US06 emissions delta for the listed F150 configurations and 14% for the listed F250 configurations.
Trailer load, speed, terrain, aerodynamics and driving behavior can materially change actual outcomes. Neither EPA’s fleet averages nor the listed chassis rows should be read as a universal towing fuel-economy figure.
Truck Towing Employment, Wages and Workforce Trends
Towing employment is difficult to isolate in broad labor statistics. BLS’s June 2024 transportation-and-warehousing profile placed support activities for transportation, a category that includes motor-vehicle towing, at 12.9% of industry employment; truck transportation represented 23.5%, warehousing and storage 26.9%, and couriers and messengers 16.4%.
Source: BLS, Keeping America Moving. The support-activities figure is not a towing-only employment count.
For the broader heavy-driving occupation, BLS reported the following U.S. wage and outlook measures:
- In May 2025, the median annual wage for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers was $58,640.
- In May 2025, the lowest-paid 10% earned less than $40,140 annually.
- In May 2025, the highest-paid 10% earned more than $79,380 annually.
- BLS projects 4% employment growth for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers from 2025 to 2035.
- BLS projects about 214,500 openings per year on average from 2025 through 2035, including replacement needs rather than only net-new jobs.
- BLS lists 2,221,200 jobs in 2025 and projects 2,305,000 in 2035 for the occupation.
Source: BLS, Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers. These wages and projections describe the occupation broadly, not only tow-truck operators, and the growth figures are forecasts rather than guaranteed outcomes.