Delivery Drivers are one of the most common jobs in America. Additionally, a significant number of people work as delivery drivers in every state in the union — it’s not like they are all just concentrated in California or the South.
Since delivery drivers are such a prominent occupation, we at Zippia wanted to look at where delivery drivers have it the best: where there are plenty of jobs to go around and people get paid what they deserve during every phase of their career.
To that end, we dove into the numbers from the BLS to figure out which states have the best opportunities for delivery drivers.
After all the numbers had been crunched, we were left with this list of the best of best for America’s delivery drivers:
So there you have it — Light Truck Or Delivery Services Drivers is the best of the best when it comes to being a delivery driver.
How did Light Truck Or Delivery Services Drivers end up here and does it really deserve this ranking? Read on to see how we completed our research on the best states for delivery drivers and for more on the top ten states.
If you’re interested, you can read more about the job scene here:
Here at Zippia, we talk to a lot of people of all different backgrounds looking for jobs. Our research has concluded that there are two common things people want in a job:
So in order to find out the best states for delivery drivers in America we needed to figure out where the jobs are and how well delivery drivers get paid. This led to the following criteria taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Occupational Employment Statistics for 2016:
To make all the salary numbers more apples to apples across states, we compared the salary data relative to the state’s cost of living.
Applying this standardization allows us to account for that fact that it costs more to live in certain in states. For example, the average salary for delivery drivers in California is $37,880 and the average salary in Illinois is $34,910, but the Illinois salary actually goes further in paying for life’s essentials.
In order to develop and overall ranking, we ranked each state for each criteria from 1 to 50 where 1 was the best.
We then averaged all the rankings for a state into a Job Score with the state having the lowest overall Job Score earning the distinction of being the best state for delivery drivers in America.
So without further ado, let’s get into just what made each state so great for delivery drivers.
Total Jobs: 27,620
Average Annual Salary: $35,110
Average Entry Level Salary: $19,040
Average Experienced Salary: $61,430
Location Quotient: 1.07
Total Jobs: 18,810
Average Annual Salary: $34,450
Average Entry Level Salary: $18,520
Average Experienced Salary: $62,250
Location Quotient: 1.06
Total Jobs: 12,460
Average Annual Salary: $34,370
Average Entry Level Salary: $18,300
Average Experienced Salary: $61,440
Location Quotient: 1.09
Total Jobs: 7,130
Average Annual Salary: $31,890
Average Entry Level Salary: $17,260
Average Experienced Salary: $60,680
Location Quotient: 1.04
Total Jobs: 45,750
Average Annual Salary: $34,910
Average Entry Level Salary: $18,910
Average Experienced Salary: $60,180
Location Quotient: 1.27
Total Jobs: 2,720
Average Annual Salary: $37,900
Average Entry Level Salary: $21,070
Average Experienced Salary: $59,470
Location Quotient: 1.05
Total Jobs: 8,880
Average Annual Salary: $35,120
Average Entry Level Salary: $19,180
Average Experienced Salary: $60,350
Location Quotient: 0.92
Total Jobs: 8,340
Average Annual Salary: $34,170
Average Entry Level Salary: $18,150
Average Experienced Salary: $61,360
Location Quotient: 0.99
Total Jobs: 1,510
Average Annual Salary: $36,940
Average Entry Level Salary: $21,040
Average Experienced Salary: $59,620
Location Quotient: 0.9
Total Jobs: 15,380
Average Annual Salary: $35,050
Average Entry Level Salary: $18,780
Average Experienced Salary: $62,520
Location Quotient: 0.91
If you’re looking to start out your career as a delivery driver these are the states that should be at the top of your list. You’ll find high pay, available jobs, and chances for career advancement.
If you’re curious, here are the worst states to be a delivery driver in America:
For more reading, check out:
Rank | State | Average Salary |
---|---|---|
1 | Michigan | $35,110 |
2 | Tennessee | $34,450 |
3 | Kentucky | $34,370 |
4 | Mississippi | $31,890 |
5 | Illinois | $34,910 |
6 | North Dakota | $37,900 |
7 | Oklahoma | $35,120 |
8 | Kansas | $34,170 |
9 | Wyoming | $36,940 |
10 | Missouri | $35,050 |
11 | Georgia | $34,710 |
12 | Washington | $39,210 |
13 | Arizona | $37,070 |
14 | Ohio | $33,490 |
15 | West Virginia | $31,230 |
16 | Colorado | $37,240 |
17 | Indiana | $33,010 |
18 | Nebraska | $33,800 |
19 | Utah | $32,940 |
20 | Iowa | $32,970 |
21 | Minnesota | $37,350 |
22 | Louisiana | $31,960 |
23 | Arkansas | $30,400 |
24 | Florida | $33,560 |
25 | Texas | $32,170 |
26 | Idaho | $32,810 |
27 | Montana | $32,940 |
28 | New Mexico | $33,050 |
29 | North Carolina | $31,740 |
30 | Nevada | $35,660 |
31 | South Carolina | $31,160 |
32 | Rhode Island | $35,510 |
33 | Virginia | $33,030 |
34 | Alabama | $29,600 |
35 | Pennsylvania | $33,200 |
36 | Maryland | $37,560 |
37 | New Jersey | $37,100 |
38 | Wisconsin | $31,940 |
39 | Vermont | $35,630 |
40 | Delaware | $33,910 |
41 | Alaska | $43,070 |
42 | Maine | $31,630 |
43 | South Dakota | $31,430 |
44 | New Hampshire | $31,660 |
45 | Connecticut | $37,150 |
46 | California | $37,880 |
47 | Hawaii | $35,190 |
48 | Oregon | $35,950 |
49 | Massachusetts | $37,320 |
50 | New York | $36,820 |