What Does a Commercial Truck Driver Do?

In this section, we compare the average commercial truck driver annual salary with that of a cdl driver. Typically, cdl drivers earn a $1,400 lower salary than commercial truck drivers earn annually.

While their salaries may differ, one common ground between commercial truck drivers and cdl drivers are a few of the skills required in each craft. In both careers, employees bring forth skills like good time management, safety equipment, and federal regulations.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A commercial truck driver responsibility is more likely to require skills like "cdl," "safety issues," "dependability," and "dot regulations." Whereas a cdl driver requires skills like "dot," "cdl-a," "customer service," and "pet." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

Cdl drivers receive the highest salaries in the retail industry coming in with an average yearly salary of $63,457. But commercial truck drivers are paid more in the transportation industry with an average salary of $59,816.

The education levels that cdl drivers earn is a bit different than that of commercial truck drivers. In particular, cdl drivers are 1.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a commercial truck driver. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Now we're going to look at the van driver profession. On average, van drivers earn a $28,258 lower salary than commercial truck drivers a year.

A similarity between the two careers of commercial truck drivers and van drivers are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "cdl," "safety equipment," and "otr. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that commercial truck driver responsibilities requires skills like "good time management," "safety issues," "federal regulations," and "good communication." But a van driver might use skills, such as, "customer service," "mechanical problems," "patients," and "pet."

It's been discovered that van drivers earn lower salaries compared to commercial truck drivers, but we wanted to find out where van drivers earned the most pay. The answer? The transportation industry. The average salary in the industry is $37,113. Additionally, commercial truck drivers earn the highest paychecks in the transportation with an average salary of $59,816.

When it comes to the differences in education between the two professions, van drivers tend to reach similar levels of education than commercial truck drivers. In fact, they're 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Let's now take a look at the truck driver-over-the-road profession. On average, these workers make higher salaries than commercial truck drivers with a $4,646 difference per year.

Using commercial truck drivers and truck driver-over the roads resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "cdl," "federal regulations," and "otr," but the other skills required are very different.

As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from commercial truck drivers resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "good time management," "safety issues," "safety equipment," and "good communication." But a truck driver-over-the-road might have skills like "pet," "work ethic," "customer service," and "taking care."

Additionally, truck driver-over the roads earn a higher salary in the manufacturing industry compared to other industries. In this industry, they receive an average salary of $67,303. Additionally, commercial truck drivers earn an average salary of $59,816 in the transportation industry.

When it comes to education, truck driver-over the roads tend to earn similar education levels than commercial truck drivers. In fact, they're 0.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Mixer drivers tend to earn a lower pay than commercial truck drivers by about $12,508 per year.

While both commercial truck drivers and mixer drivers complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like cdl, federal regulations, and safety regulations, the two careers also vary in other skills.

Even though a few skill sets overlap, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a commercial truck driver might have more use for skills like "good time management," "safety issues," "safety equipment," and "otr." Meanwhile, some mixer drivers might include skills like "dot," "customer service," "ladders," and "osha" on their resume.

Now, let's take a closer look at the financials in each career. The construction industry tends to pay more for mixer drivers with an average of $51,169. While the highest commercial truck driver annual salary comes from the transportation industry.

The average resume of mixer drivers showed that they earn similar levels of education to commercial truck drivers. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 2.0% less. Additionally, they're less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.