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The differences between professional truck drivers and route drivers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a professional truck driver has an average salary of $48,577, which is higher than the $45,492 average annual salary of a route driver.
The top three skills for a professional truck driver include CDL, safety regulations and on-time delivery. The most important skills for a route driver are CDL, DOT, and pickup.
| Professional Truck Driver | Route Driver | |
| Yearly salary | $48,577 | $45,492 |
| Hourly rate | $23.35 | $21.87 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 739,437 | 266,899 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 32% | High School Diploma, 47% |
| Average age | 48 | 48 |
| Years of experience | 2 | - |
Professional truck drivers have skills in communication, organization, and navigation, as well as a motivated personality and a good sense of responsibility. Their services are absolutely essential, with the most basic task being driving commercial trucks for transportation of goods and materials to distribution centers. Truck drivers transport everything from automobiles to produce to machinery.
A Route Driver is responsible for delivering and transporting supplies or goods within an allotted time. The tasks will vary upon the organization or industry that a Route Driver works for, however, most of the time, the duties will revolve around picking up and dropping off packages at particular destinations ranging from homes to establishments, and communicating with customers. Furthermore, Route Drivers must keep their vehicles in clean and sound condition, report to supervisors should there be any issue, and adhere to the company policies and regulations at all times.
Professional truck drivers and route drivers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Professional Truck Driver | Route Driver | |
| Average salary | $48,577 | $45,492 |
| Salary range | Between $33,000 And $69,000 | Between $30,000 And $67,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Wellpath | Blank Rome |
| Best paying industry | Transportation | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a professional truck driver and a route driver in terms of educational background:
| Professional Truck Driver | Route Driver | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 32% | High School Diploma, 47% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between professional truck drivers' and route drivers' demographics:
| Professional Truck Driver | Route Driver | |
| Average age | 48 | 48 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 84.3% Female, 15.7% | Male, 90.6% Female, 9.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 14.4% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.9% Asian, 3.7% White, 58.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 3.8% White, 60.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 4% |