How To Become A Traffic Coordinator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a traffic coordinator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

The primary duty of a traffic coordinator is to oversee the various aspects of a business. More specifically, they are responsible for ensuring that every department meets their goals on time and can perform to the best of their abilities. In a typical workweek, the traffic coordinator performs various critical tasks such as communicating with department heads, identifying areas for improvement, developing business strategies (and improving new ones), and liaising between different departments to ensure smooth communication and workflow.

In times of critical events within the company, the traffic coordinator is also one of the first few people to respond accordingly. A business-related degree is often a requirement for this role, and the same goes for industry experience. More than that, a traffic coordinator must also have great skills in communication, coordination, organization, and business strategy to excel at their job. When it comes to compensation, a traffic coordinator makes $19 an hour or about $39,000 a year, on average.

ScoreTraffic CoordinatorUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $40,092

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.74%

Asian 7.29%

Black or African American 10.66%

Hispanic or Latino 23.24%

Unknown 4.19%

White 53.87%

Gender

female 60.44%

male 39.56%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a traffic coordinator

Explore traffic coordinator education requirements

Most common traffic coordinator degrees

Bachelor's

66.5 %

Associate

17.0 %

High School Diploma

8.7 %

Start to develop specific traffic coordinator skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	19.16%
Data Entry	8.54%
Freight Carriers	5.36%
PowerPoint	5.13%
Account Executives	4.73%

Complete relevant traffic coordinator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New traffic coordinators 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 traffic coordinator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real traffic coordinator resumes.

Research traffic coordinator duties and responsibilities

Manage return shipments for LTL and small packages, ensuring they are return or redirect to new locations as instructed.
Complete documentation and manage inventory levels by utilizing ERP systems.
Communicate and coordinate with customs brokers and freight forwarders to facilitate creation of documentation for overseas import and export shipments.
Correspond with overseas vendors for shipping allocations and delivery schedules with nominate freight forwarders to assure timely mode of transportation.

Prepare your traffic coordinator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your traffic coordinator 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 traffic coordinator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable traffic coordinator resume templates

Build a professional traffic coordinator 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 traffic coordinator resume.