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California training programs, and what happened to the people who took them

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Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

SOC 53-3032 · 2024-2034

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.

How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.

What California expects of this job

Typical pay in California
$61,548per year
Projected openings
262,610
Projected change
+11.4%
Usually needs
Postsecondary non-degree award

Bright Outlook — a U.S. Department of Labor designation
Numerous Job Openings

The Department's own designation, made from its national projections. It is not this project's assessment and it is not California's: every other figure on this page comes from California's projection, which can point the other way and for some occupations does.

Skills this work uses most

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.

  1. Operation and Control
  2. Operations Monitoring
  3. Monitoring
  4. Time Management
  5. Critical Thinking
  6. Reading Comprehension

Pay by region

RegionTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openings
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties)$67,1336,540
Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties)$66,06015,030
San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties)$65,4244,820
San Rafael MD (Marin County)$64,565630
Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County)$62,9752,260
Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County)$62,62613,790
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties)$62,15554,100
Napa MSA (Napa County)$62,145920
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties)$62,10413,700
Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties)$61,9502,490
Vallejo MSA (Solano County)$61,6632,940
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County)$61,438940
Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties)$61,202470
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County)$61,10163,160
North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties)$61,0492,230
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County)$60,92613,070
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County)$60,75614,780
Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County)$60,5471,070
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County)$60,5373,930
North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties)$60,3221,270
Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County)$59,0009,630
Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County)$58,6521,050
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County)$58,6112,690
Visalia MSA (Tulare County)$58,5394,530
Redding MSA (Shasta County)$56,8391,080
Chico MSA (Butte County)$56,726800
Merced MSA (Merced County)$56,2652,260
Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County)$56,2654,570
El Centro MSA (Imperial County)$52,6191,410
Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties)$52,59811,190

What the pay actually ranges across

The lowest-paid tenth earn under
$42,746
A quarter earn under
$49,807
Half earn under
$61,548
Three quarters earn under
$73,913
The highest-paid tenth earn over
$83,754

A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.

Similar work

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.

OccupationTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openingsProjected change
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators$48,816100,140+11.4%
Light Truck Drivers$47,814157,370+17.9%
Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists$76,04120,390+5.1%
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand$45,689502,850+8.6%
Taxi Drivers$40,11966,330+48%
Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs$45,70952,480+19.9%

Programs that train for this job — 95