How To Become A Tractor Driver: What It Is and Career Path

What is a tractor driver and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

While growing up, you may have seen a tractor driver loading, controlling, and driving a tractor to transport materials around a construction site, factory, storage area, or other large warehouse space. After moving a large or heavy object from one location to another, they log the activity to have a careful record of the site of all critical materials.

If you find a tractor driver position, your primary responsibility is to load, control and drive those machines. You may find yourself working as a tractor driver within one large warehouse space, or you may be responsible for transporting materials around a construction site, factory, or storage area.

You typically gain tractor driving training on the job. Thereby, you may learn how to operate a tractor or lift truck's controls by shadowing a supervisor or experienced coworker. While some employers may prefer to hire you if you have a high school diploma or GED certificate, most only require that you are in good physical condition.

ScoreTractor DriverUS Average

Salary

2.3

Avg. Salary $29,084

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.73%

Asian 3.04%

Black or African American 11.41%

Hispanic or Latino 26.92%

Unknown 4.35%

White 53.56%

Gender

female 9.45%

male 90.55%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.6

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

1.4

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a tractor driver

Explore tractor driver education requirements

Most common tractor driver degrees

High School Diploma

59.0 %

Associate

14.3 %

Bachelor's

11.7 %

Start to develop specific tractor driver skills

Skills	Percentages
CDL	62.81%
DOT	23.66%
Mowing	2.80%
Harvest	2.14%
GRASS	1.78%

Complete relevant tractor driver training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New tractor drivers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a tractor driver based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real tractor driver resumes.

Research tractor driver duties and responsibilities

Supervise the harvest operation to accomplish daily production requirements.
Mow the lawn, grade the roads, spray tar, and drive/dump gravel.
Dispatch, pickup, and deliver local freight.
Work on lawn mowers, repair what are broken.

Prepare your tractor driver resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your tractor driver resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a tractor driver resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable tractor driver resume templates

Build a professional tractor driver resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your tractor driver resume.

Apply for tractor driver jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a tractor driver job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do tractor drivers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

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1 star

Tractor driver reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020

Pros

The ability to gain the trust of a customer to know satisfied and happy with the assignments set all personal belongings and artifacts have not been touched or moved and deliver to him one time it is a sure note for return business which Fields customer service and repetitive returns safety orientated and knowledgeable have a special detail and driving skills safety assured first and foremost

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019

Cons

The money is NOT coming in as fast/regular as i need it to.