Commercial Trucking recruiters serving Indianapolis.
Indianapolis has 40% more heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers per job than the country as a whole, about 20,480 in the metro. BLS counts 1,002 business locations of general freight trucking companies across the metro. Below: local pay for every role we staff and the nearby markets competing for the same people.
Positions we recruit for in Indianapolis.
BLS counts about 37,650 people working in the occupations behind these roles across the Indianapolis metro, the largest group being heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (about 20,480). Relative to the size of the local economy, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers are far more concentrated here than nationally (location quotient 1.40). Local headcount and pay for each role are below; role descriptions are on the Commercial Trucking hub.
CDL-A Truck Driver
Sample job description →Indianapolis: 20,480 employed · $61,980 median, 16th-highest of 112 metros
CDL-B Truck Driver
Sample job description →Indianapolis: 7,530 employed · $45,180 median, 37th-highest of 112 metros
Dispatcher / Fleet Coordinator
Indianapolis: 1,520 employed · $50,060 median, 40th-highest of 111 metros
Fleet Manager
Indianapolis: 1,860 employed · $111,390 median, 31st-highest of 112 metros
Safety & Compliance Manager (DOT)
Indianapolis: 2,140 employed · $83,690 median, 26th-highest of 112 metros
Diesel Mechanic / Fleet Technician
Indianapolis: 2,850 employed · $61,710 median, 57th-highest of 112 metros
Logistics Coordinator
Indianapolis: 580 employed · $48,990 median, 60th-highest of 96 metros
Driver Recruiter
Indianapolis: 7,150 employed · $67,300 median, 82nd-highest of 112 metros
Terminal Manager
Route / Delivery Supervisor
Indianapolis: 6,790 employed · $65,590 median, 20th-highest of 112 metros
The roles behind most of our Indianapolis, IN searches in this trade: CDL-B Truck Driver and CDL-A Truck Driver.
What Commercial Trucking roles earn in Indianapolis.
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in Indianapolis earn a median $61,980, 6% over the $58,640 national figure, and 16th of 112 metros. Pay runs $43,230 at the tenth percentile to $82,540 at the ninetieth. The best-paid role below is first-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, at $65,590 against $62,890 nationally.
| Role | Indianapolis median | Typical range | National median | vs. national | Employed locally |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDL-A Truck DriverHeavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers (53-3032) | $61,980 | $43,230–$82,540 | $58,640 | +6% | 20,480 |
| CDL-B Truck DriverLight Truck Drivers (53-3033) | $45,180 | $31,830–$96,250 | $44,860 | +1% | 7,530 |
| Dispatcher / Fleet CoordinatorDispatchers (43-5032) | $50,060 | $36,360–$72,030 | $50,340 | −1% | 1,520 |
| Fleet Manager · Terminal ManagerTransportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers (11-3071) | $111,390 | $75,570–$170,980 | $107,230 | +4% | 1,860 |
| Safety & Compliance Manager (DOT)Compliance Officers (13-1041) | $83,690 | $50,700–$136,640 | $80,730 | +4% | 2,140 |
| Diesel Mechanic / Fleet TechnicianBus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists (49-3031) | $61,710 | $46,530–$80,390 | $61,770 | 0% | 2,850 |
| Logistics CoordinatorCargo and Freight Agents (43-5011) | $48,990 | $40,060–$85,740 | $52,260 | −6% | 580 |
| Driver RecruiterHuman Resources Specialists (13-1071) | $67,300 | $46,090–$116,270 | $75,940 | −11% | 7,150 |
| Route / Delivery SupervisorFirst-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material Moving Workers (53-1047) | $65,590 | $46,160–$89,400 | $62,890 | +4% | 6,790 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Indianapolis metro. Range is 10th to 90th percentile; management and office roles are metro-wide. A metro ranking counts only the metros where BLS publishes that occupation.
How Indianapolis's commercial trucking market has changed since 2018.
The number of general freight trucking companies in Indianapolis rose from 599 in 2018 to 1,002 in 2023, up 67%, ahead of the 49% national rise.
| Measure | 2018 | 2023 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| General freight trucking companies: business locations | 599 | 1,002 | +67% |
| General freight trucking companies: employment | – | 14,785 | – |
| General freight trucking companies: average annual pay | – | $68,885 | – |
BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private employers, annual averages. A dash means BLS did not publish the figure.
Free Commercial Trucking hiring resources.
Definitive Guide to Commercial Trucking · 2026 Commercial Trucking Salary Guide · 3-Step Interview Guide for Commercial Trucking
Indianapolis runs 40% more commercial trucking workers per job than the country as a whole — well above the national concentration. More per job means more people to reach, and more employers reaching them.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 , Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers. Metro-wide figures for the base occupation; the wage table above is role-specific and commercial.
How Indianapolis's commercial trucking market compares
Among the 100 metros we cover with published BLS figures, Indianapolis ranks 13th for headcount, 14th for median pay and 14th for concentration for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers.
What this means for hiring:For commercial trucking employers in Indianapolis, the local pool is deeper than most, so a well-run search can usually fill field roles from inside the metro.
Sources: BLS QCEW 2023 annual averages and BLS OEWS May 2025, Indianapolis metro. Employers are counted by business location.
We have not closed a commercial trucking search in Indianapolis yet. Here is what we have closed.
These are other trades in the same market. We would rather show you the searches we have actually run in Indianapolis than imply a record in this trade that we do not have yet.
- Sheet Metal ForemanA commercial roofing company needed a foreman who could run service crews and still turn a wrench; we filled it inside a week.
- Commercial Sheet Metal Roofing ForemanTen weeks to find a foreman who could credibly run both the hands-on and the supervisory side of sheet metal roofing.
- Roofing ForemanThe foreman we placed had worked for this same roofing company a decade earlier - about as close to a known quantity as a search gets.
One commercial trucking seat is open in Indianapolis right now.
The wage figures above are what the market pays. These are the actual openings behind them - live searches we are running here today.
- Diesel Mechanic / Tractor Trailer TechnicianApply →
Every open role we are running →
Board last synced October 14, 2026. Roles move fast; /jobs/ is always the current list.
Nearby markets competing for Indianapolis talent.
The closest metro we cover is Cincinnati, about 100 miles away, with roughly 13,820 heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (0.7 times Indianapolis's 20,480). Pay is close across the region: medians run from $59,000 in Louisville to $62,300 in Chicago, against $61,980 here. Chicago has the deepest pool within reach, so a search for senior roles here usually extends there.
| Metro | Distance | Employed | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis | – | 20,480 | $61,980 |
| Cincinnati | 98 mi | 13,820 | $60,590 |
| Dayton | 104 mi | 4,660 | $59,490 |
| Louisville | 107 mi | 10,820 | $59,000 |
| Chicago | 164 mi | 62,210 | $62,300 |
| Columbus | 168 mi | 16,110 | $61,720 |
BLS OEWS, May 2025; straight-line miles.
What else is competing for Indianapolis crews.
Not commercial trucking work. These are the capital projects big enough to pull the same crews into Indianapolis in the months you are trying to fill a seat, each with the status its own market page reports.
- INCOG BioPharma Fishers expansion$200MThrough 2030
Doubling INCOG's Indiana workforce to nearly 1,000 employees. Adds another life-sciences manufacturing buildout to the region's pharma corridor, competing with LEAP for the same cleanroom-experienced mechanical and electrical talent.
- Meta Lebanon data center campus$10BOngoing, Boone County
A second major hyperscale build in the same Boone County corridor as LEAP - meaning the pharma manufacturing buildout and a $10B data center are drawing on the same regional labor pool simultaneously.
- LEAP Lebanon Innovation District / Eli Lilly manufacturing$13B (Lilly investment)Construction through 2027
A new pharmaceutical manufacturing district in Boone County, just northwest of Indianapolis, expected to generate over 5,000 construction jobs during build-out plus roughly 1,300 permanent high-skill roles at full operation. Life-sciences-grade mechanical, electrical, and process piping work at a scale the region has not seen before.
Showing 3 of 5 projects tracked in this metro. The Indianapolis market page lists them all.
What credentials matter for commercial trucking, and what kills offers in Indianapolis.
The 4 credentials that gate the work and the 4 things that most often end a commercial trucking offer are the same in every market, kept in one place: Commercial Trucking credentials and offer risks, each linked to the body that issues it. What is local is the licensing rule above and the pay further up this page.
Is Indianapolis a linehaul market or a last-mile one?
For every light-truck driver BLS counts in Indianapolis there are 2.7 heavy and tractor-trailer drivers - 20,480 against 7,530, 15th of 112 on that ratio.
Weighted that far to Class A, the linehaul and regional pool is deeper than the headcount suggests and the local-delivery bench thinner.
Nationally it is 2.1 to one.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (53-3032) against light truck drivers (53-3033), across the 112 metros BLS publishes both series for.
Frequently asked - Commercial Trucking hiring in Indianapolis.
What do heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers earn in Indianapolis?
BLS puts the Indianapolis median for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers at $61,980 a year, 6% above the $58,640 national median. That ranks 16th of 112 metros with published figures, in the top quarter. Most of the market sits between $43,230 and $82,540, a 1.9x gap and a moderate spread, so a few thousand dollars over the median buys real experience.
Is it hard to hire heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in Indianapolis?
Not by national standards. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers make up 40% more of the Indianapolis workforce than they do nationally, about 20,480 people. The 1,002 general freight trucking companies here average about 15 employees per location. With 67% more of those firms than in 2018, more employers are competing for the same crews.
Which commercial trucking roles pay the most in Indianapolis?
Of the roles we recruit for, Fleet Manager pays the most in Indianapolis, a $111,390 median (BLS measures that occupation across all industries in the metro). Among field roles the top earner is Route / Delivery Supervisor at $65,590, 41% below it. CDL-B Truck Driver is the lowest-paid field role at $45,180. Relative to national pay, CDL-A Truck Driver is the strongest-paying role here (6% above). Driver Recruiter trails national pay the most (11% below).
How many general freight trucking companies operate in Indianapolis?
BLS counted 1,002 general freight trucking companies in Indianapolis in 2023, employing about 14,785 people between them. Up from 599 in 2018, a 67% increase against 49% growth nationally. That averages 15 people per location. They pay an average of $68,885, 5% above the $65,587 national average for the same kind of employer.
Which nearby metros compete with Indianapolis for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers?
The closest metros we cover with published figures are Cincinnati (98 miles, about 13,820, $60,590 median), Dayton (104 miles, about 4,660, $59,490 median) and Louisville (107 miles, about 10,820, $59,000 median).
Plenty of people. Few of them looking.
Indianapolis has one of the deeper pools of heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers we cover, but the best of them are already working. Let's find the ones ready to move.
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