Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
Drive a tractor-trailer combination or a truck with a capacity of at least 26,001 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). May be required to unload truck. Requires commercial drivers' license. Includes tow truck drivers.
Most important skills
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Troubleshooting
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- Transportation
- Public Safety and Security
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Law and Government
- Mechanical
- Telecommunications
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Check vehicles to ensure that mechanical, safety, and emergency equipment is in good working order.
- Maintain logs of working hours or of vehicle service or repair status, following applicable state and federal regulations.
- Obtain receipts or signatures for delivered goods and collect payment for services when required.
- Maneuver trucks into loading or unloading positions, following signals from loading crew and checking that vehicle and loading equipment are properly positioned.
- Drive trucks with capacities greater than 13 tons, including tractor-trailer combinations, to transport and deliver products, livestock, or other materials.
- Read bills of lading to determine assignment details.
- Report vehicle defects, accidents, traffic violations, or damage to the vehicles.
- Read and interpret maps to determine vehicle routes.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (54.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (39%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (42.6%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 66% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 63% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 88% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 63% of occupations compared | 65% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 78% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 74% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 70% of occupations compared | 29% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 90% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 1.47%
- Occasional contact with others: 8.59%
- Contact with others about half the time: 11.36%
- Contact with others most of the time: 28.83%
- Constant contact with others: 49.76%
n = 42, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 11.54%
- Fairly important: 8.78%
- Important: 15.21%
- Very important: 22.26%
- Extremely important: 42.21%
n = 41, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 20.85%
- Fairly important: 2.27%
- Important: 8.92%
- Very important: 32.4%
- Extremely important: 35.55%
n = 41, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 2.2%
- Very little freedom: 6.58%
- Limited freedom: 18.71%
- Some freedom: 7.62%
- A lot of freedom: 64.89%
n = 41, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: 8.02%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 2.97%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 6.45%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 22.08%
- Every day: 60.49%
n = 42, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: 20.53%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 48.92%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 4.41%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 15.31%
- Every day: 10.83%
n = 41, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 10.01%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 29.25%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 15.94%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 23.05%
- Every day: 21.75%
n = 40, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 0.33%
- Fairly serious: 20.48%
- Serious: 11.19%
- Very serious: 12.09%
- Extremely serious: 55.91%
n = 41, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 53-3032.00 · SOC 53-3032 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8