Over the road drivers are truckers that drive long-distance routes, as opposed to drivers that make short deliveries in their area. OTR drivers can transport any kind of material, from raw supplies to finished goods. Some OTR drivers have special certifications that allow them to transport Hazmat material. Obviously the most important skill for an OTR driver is the ability to drive long distances while maintaining road safety standards. OTR drivers also need to load cargo onto the trailer while knowing weight distribution regulations and safety guidelines. They also need to handle the administrative aspect of transporting cargo, such as obtaining the proper signatures and maintaining cargo logs.
To become an Over the Road driver, most people only need a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) and some driving experience. Many driving schools offer classes to help people earn their CDLs.
OTR drivers earn an average annual salary of $60,909, but that salary comes with a lot of hardship. Many drivers are on the road for days without seeing their family. Sometimes, they drive up to eight hours before they can take a break.
Over The Road Driver Overview
Over The Road Driver Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an over the road driver. For example, did you know that they make an average of $28.24 an hour? That's $58,747 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 99,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does an Over The Road Driver Do
There are certain skills that many over the road drivers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed hand-eye coordination, physical health and visual ability.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be an over the road driver, we found that a lot of resumes listed 31.9% of over the road drivers included cdl, while 6.9% of resumes included post-trip inspections, and 5.3% of resumes included hazmat. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the over the road driver job title. But what industry to start with? Most over the road drivers actually find jobs in the transportation and retail industries.
How To Become an Over The Road Driver
If you're interested in becoming an over the road driver, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 9.7% of over the road drivers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.7% of over the road drivers have master's degrees. Even though some over the road drivers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an over the road driver. When we researched the most common majors for an over the road driver, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on over the road driver resumes include diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an over the road driver. In fact, many over the road driver jobs require experience in a role such as driver. Meanwhile, many over the road drivers also have previous career experience in roles such as truck driver or truck driver-over-the-road.
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Over The Road Driver Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of driver you might progress to a role such as foreman eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title terminal manager.
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Average Salary for an Over The Road Driver
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Dyno Nobel Inc. OTR Team Driver OTR Team Driver | Dyno Nobel Inc. Dyno Nobel Inc. | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $85,00001/29/2021 $85,000 |
Adecco Staffing Off Road Driver Off Road Driver | Adecco Staffing Adecco Staffing | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $43,82701/29/2021 $43,827 |
Ryder System Class OTR Driver Home Weekly Class OTR Driver Home Weekly | Ryder System Ryder System | 01/28/2021 01/28/2021 | $71,74101/28/2021 $71,741 |
Ryder System Class A OTR Driver Reset Weekly 4000 SOB Class A OTR Driver Reset Weekly 4000 SOB | Ryder System Ryder System | 01/28/2021 01/28/2021 | $71,74101/28/2021 $71,741 |
EMBA Corp Class A OTR Driver Class A OTR Driver | EMBA Corp EMBA Corp | 01/27/2021 01/27/2021 | $78,26301/27/2021 $78,263 |
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Over The Road Driver Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming an Over The Road Driver. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write an Over The Road Driver Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Over The Road Driver resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For an Over The Road Driver
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 31.9% of over the road drivers listed cdl on their resume, but soft skills such as hand-eye coordination and physical health are important as well.
- CDL, 31.9%
- Post-Trip Inspections, 6.9%
- Hazmat, 5.3%
- OTR, 4.8%
- Customer Service, 4.4%
- Other Skills, 46.7% See All Over The Road Driver Skills
Best States For an Over The Road Driver
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an over the road driver. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, North Dakota, New York, and Vermont. Over the road drivers make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $75,040. Whereas in North Dakota and New York, they would average $73,987 and $73,810, respectively. While over the road drivers would only make an average of $73,367 in Vermont, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. North Dakota
$73,987
Avg. Salary
2. Pennsylvania
$68,337
Avg. Salary
3. Delaware
$72,622
Avg. Salary
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