How To Become A Transportation Consultant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a transportation consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Curt Macysyn

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a transportation consultant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $40.95 an hour? That's $85,172 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 28% and produce 54,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a transportation consultant?

Curt Macysyn

Executive Director, NSTA

NSTA expects a quick recovery in the student transportation field, but like other sectors, we expect that procedures and protocols will have to adapt to a post-COVID19 environment. What that likely means is that more emphasis will be placed on the cleaning and sanitizing of vehicles as we move forward. Also, the industry has a heavy reliance on employee and driver training in order to maintain its stellar safety track record. With that, much of the training and professional development have transitioned to online platforms, and if that set-up proves consistently viable

ScoreTransportation ConsultantUS Average

Salary

6.7

Avg. Salary $85,172

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 28%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.42%

Asian 6.14%

Black or African American 10.90%

Hispanic or Latino 18.74%

Unknown 4.31%

White 59.50%

Gender

female 25.39%

male 74.61%

Age - 45

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 - 45

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.3

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a transportation consultant

Explore transportation consultant education requirements

Most common transportation consultant degrees

Bachelor's

63.7 %

Master's

12.7 %

Associate

11.8 %

Start to develop specific transportation consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Logistics	58.27%
LTL	8.83%
Customer Service	5.45%
GIS	4.46%
DOT	4.25%

Complete relevant transportation consultant training and internships

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

Research transportation consultant duties and responsibilities

Provide SharePoint development and administration, budget and financial reporting; manage invoicing; and develop training manuals and user guides.
Negotiate pricing and service on customer's behalf in moving LTL, TL via air, ocean, rail and truck.
Support new business development and facilitate strategic transportation and logistics planning.
Update GIS on MRE reports for daily updates and creates MRE tracking reports.

Apply for transportation consultant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a transportation consultant 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 transportation consultants rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Transportation consultant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2020

Cons

It needs more patience to apply the true solution and satisfy your client