Logistics Statistics for 2026: Costs, Freight Volumes, Technology and the Workforce

US business logistics costs reached $2.4 trillion in 2025, equal to 7.8% of GDP, according to the 2026 State of Logistics Report from Kearney and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, released in June 2026. Trucks still carry the bulk of that activity: the American Trucking Associations reports that trucking moved 72.7% of domestic freight by weight in 2024, an estimated 11.27 billion tons, supported by 8.4 million trucking-related jobs. Online shopping keeps adding parcels to the network, with the US Census Bureau putting e-commerce at 17.1% of retail sales in the second quarter of 2026. Below are the current numbers that matter for logistics leaders, analysts, and reporters.

Summary: logistics statistics at a glance

How big is logistics? Cost and market statistics

The cleanest measure of the US logistics economy is what businesses spend to run it. The 2026 State of Logistics Report from Kearney and CSCMP was the 37th annual edition, presented by Penske Logistics, and it puts US business logistics costs at $2.4 trillion for 2025. That equals 7.8% of national GDP.

The report’s framing matters as much as the number. Kearney describes this year’s edition as arriving at an inflection point, where disruption has hardened into a structural feature of the operating environment rather than a condition to manage through. For employers, that means planning for volatility as the baseline, not the exception.

Global figures vary widely by methodology, and many published market-size estimates mix revenue, spend, and forecasts. For that reason this page leans on measured government, association, and primary-research data instead of projected market values.

Trucking and freight volume statistics

Trucking remains the backbone of domestic freight. The ATA reports the following for 2024 and 2023:

• Trucks hauled 72.7% of US freight by weight, an estimated 11.27 billion tons in 2024.
• The industry’s gross revenue was $906 billion in 2024. In the American Trucking Trends 2025 release, ATA noted that figure was down from $1.004 trillion in 2023, and that tonnage slipped from 11.41 billion tons in 2023.
• There were 14.89 million registered trucks and 329.86 billion truck miles traveled in 2023.
• About 580,000 motor carriers were active with FMCSA as of June 2025, and 91.5% of carriers operate 10 or fewer trucks. More than 99% run fewer than 100 power units.
• Trucks carried 67% of the value of US-Canada surface trade and 85% of US-Mexico surface trade in 2024.

The small-fleet structure is a recruiting story as much as an operations one. Most trucking employers are small businesses that compete for the same drivers, dispatchers, and mechanics as national carriers, often without a dedicated talent acquisition team.

Note on dates: ATA’s 2025 edition reports 2024 and, for some measures, 2023 data. Those are the latest figures it publishes for these measures as of this writing.

Operating cost and margin statistics

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released its Operational Costs of Trucking 2026 update on July 15, 2026, covering 2025. The headline numbers:

• The industry-average cost to operate a truck hit a record $2.336 per mile in 2025, up 3.4% from the prior year.
• Excluding fuel, the cost was $1.854 per mile, up 4.2%.
• Tolls rose 13.2%, repair and maintenance 8.6%, driver benefits 6.6%, and tires 6.4%.
• Operating margins were thin: below 1.0% for truckload and refrigerated carriers, 4.0% for tank carriers, and negative 0.5% for flatbed carriers. LTL carriers and fleets with 1,000 or more trucks held healthy but flat margins.

Carriers responded with cuts. ATRI found truck counts fell 2.4%, non-driver staffing was cut 7.8%, and an average of 10% of trucks sat unseated. In practical terms, one in ten trucks in the average fleet had no driver assigned, which is both a capacity problem and a hiring problem. ATRI also notes that freight rates are turning a corner in 2026, which raises the stakes on filling those seats.

E-commerce and global freight statistics

Parcel and last-mile demand continue to climb. The US Census Bureau reported in August 2026 that Q2 2026 retail e-commerce sales were $340.2 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis. That is 17.1% of total retail sales, up 3.8% from the first quarter and 12.2% from the second quarter of 2025.

On the water, UNCTAD’s Review of Maritime Transport 2025 says shipping carries over 80% of world merchandise trade. Ton-miles grew a record of nearly 6% in 2024 as geopolitical rerouting lengthened voyages, while UNCTAD projected seaborne trade volumes to grow just 0.5% in 2025. Only 8% of global fleet tonnage is equipped for alternative fuels, and shipping emissions rose 5% in 2024. These are 2025 report figures, the most recent edition available when this page was written.

Logistics workforce statistics

Workforce data is where logistics reporting is thinnest, and where hiring leaders need the most help. Here is what the primary sources show for 2026.

Drivers. The ATA counts 3.58 million professional truck drivers in 2024, down 0.8% from 2023. ATRI’s finding that 10% of trucks were unseated in 2025 shows how much driver capacity is missing even in a soft freight market.

Women in logistics roles. The 2026-27 WIT Index from Women In Trucking, based on about 210 organizations surveyed from November 2025 through April 2026, found women make up:

• 10% of professional CDL drivers at companies with fewer than 500 employees, 10.5% at companies with 500 to 4,999 employees, and 7% at those with 5,000 or more.
• 31% of C-suite and executive roles, 37.5% of supervisory leadership, and 29% of board seats.
• 76.5% of human resources and talent roles, 45.5% of dispatchers, and 44% of safety roles.
• Just 2.5% of truck diesel technicians.

The index described the results as relatively flat versus the prior edition, so progress is slow. The technician figure points to one of the least-tapped talent pools in the sector.

Tighter licensing rules. A federal final rule on non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses took effect March 16, 2026. According to the Federal Register notice, FMCSA found more than 30 states had issued tens of thousands of these licenses in noncompliant ways, and cited 17 fatal crashes in 2025 involving non-domiciled CDL holders, resulting in 30 deaths. State error rates ranged from about 25% in California to 53% in New York and 49% in Texas. Eligibility is now limited to certain visa categories (H-2A, H-2B, and E-2). Whatever the policy debate, carriers that relied on this driver pool now have to replan their recruiting.

Supply chain talent. The 2026 MHI Annual Industry Report, produced with Deloitte, ranked workforce, talent shortage, and changing worker skillsets as the second most important trend affecting supply chains in 2026.

Emerging trends and what’s new in 2026

Four shifts stand out in the 2026 data.

1. AI is moving from pilot to disruption. In the MHI and Deloitte survey, 71% of respondents say AI is disrupting supply chains, and 24% call it transformational. The share rating AI’s impact as significant or greater reached 48%, up 25 percentage points from 2025. Robotics and automation followed: 39% rate their impact as significant or greater, up 16 points.

2. Technology budgets are growing. The same report found 56% of organizations expect to increase spending on supply chain innovation, with 52% planning to spend more than $1 million and 17% planning more than $10 million. Leaders cited talent shortages, automation costs, and unclear use cases among the barriers.

3. Costs keep rising even as logistics spending falls as a share of GDP. Total US logistics spend came in at 7.8% of GDP in 2025, yet ATRI’s carrier-level data shows costs per mile at a record. The macro average looks benign while operators with thin margins absorb the pressure.

4. Volatility is structural. Kearney and CSCMP’s 2026 framing, plus the ocean rerouting UNCTAD documented, suggest planning cycles need to be shorter and talent pipelines more flexible. Hiring plans that assume a stable freight market are already out of date.

What to watch next: whether 2026 freight rates recover enough to put unseated trucks back on the road, how the licensing rule changes the driver pool, and whether automation adoption shifts hiring from entry-level handling roles toward technicians and systems specialists.

How Tall Trees Talent helps

Tall Trees Talent helps carriers, 3PLs, and shippers fill the logistics, dispatch, safety, and operations management roles that keep freight moving, with recruiters who have worked in the industry themselves. Explore logistics recruiting to see how it works.

Robert Hill

Researcher

Robert joined Tall Trees Talent in 2025 as a Researcher, supporting 360 recruitment and market intelligence across the energy and energy-adjacent industries.

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