Truck Driver Salary in Georgia: Pay by Experience, City & Take-Home

A truck driver in Georgia earns a median of $57,050 a year, which works out to about $27.43 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025). Most drivers in the state land between $38,150 at the low end and $77,900 at the high end. That puts the typical Georgia trucker just below the national median of $58,640, a gap of $1,590.

How Georgia truck driver pay compares to the national median

The national median for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers sits at $58,640 a year, per BLS (2025). Georgia’s median of $57,050 trails that by $1,590, or roughly 2.7 percent. That’s a small gap, and it tells you something useful: trucking pay is set far more by freight lanes, equipment, and miles than by which state line your truck happens to be parked behind.

The state mean, or average, comes in at $57,780. The mean sitting above the median is normal in this trade. A cluster of high earners hauling specialized freight or running dedicated long-haul routes pulls the average up, while the bulk of drivers earn near the $57,050 middle. The spread is what matters most for planning. Georgia’s 10th percentile is $38,150 and its 90th percentile is $77,900, so the gap between a newer local driver and a senior over-the-road driver is nearly $40,000 a year. Where you fall in that range depends mostly on experience, the type of hauling, and the metro you base out of, all of which we break down below.

It helps to read that $1,590 national gap in context. Trucking pay is unusually portable. The same Class 8 tractor, the same federal hours-of-service rules, and the same freight lanes run across state lines, so a driver’s earning power doesn’t reset when they cross into Georgia the way it might for a teacher or a nurse tied to local salary schedules. What the small gap really signals is that Georgia’s freight economy is competitive with the national market, not a discount market. A driver weighing Georgia against a higher-cost state should keep that in mind: a roughly equal gross paired with Georgia’s lower housing and living costs can mean the Georgia paycheck stretches further in practice, even though the number on the offer letter is a touch lower.

Truck driver salary in Georgia by experience

Pay climbs steadily with miles, a clean record, and the endorsements you carry. The table below maps the BLS (2025) percentile points to a typical career arc in Georgia. A new CDL holder running local or regional usually starts near the 10th percentile, while drivers who add endorsements such as hazmat or tanker, or who move into dedicated and long-haul work, push toward the upper percentiles.

The jump from entry to median is the biggest practical win for most drivers. Moving from $38,150 to $57,050 is an $18,900 raise, and it usually happens within the first few years as you log safe miles and qualify for better-paying freight. From median to the 75th percentile is another $11,730, and reaching the 90th percentile at $77,900 typically means specialized hauling, a dedicated account, or years with one carrier that rewards tenure. The hourly figures here are derived from the annual numbers on a standard full-time basis, so treat them as a guide. Many Georgia drivers are paid by the mile rather than the hour, which means strong weeks with long, efficient lanes can beat the steady hourly equivalent.

One thing worth flagging about the early years. The gap between the 10th percentile at $38,150 and the 25th percentile at $45,700 is $7,550, and most drivers move through that band quickly. The slowest part of the climb tends to come later, between the median and the 75th percentile, because that next step usually requires a real change in what you haul or who you haul for rather than simply more time on the seat. A driver who stays in the same local or regional role can plateau near the median for years. The ones who reach the upper percentiles almost always made a deliberate move: a hazmat or tanker endorsement, a switch to a dedicated account, or a jump to over-the-road work with a carrier that pays a premium for the miles. In other words, the first half of the range is mostly about experience and a clean record, while the back half is about positioning.

Pay structure matters here too. A driver quoted, say, 60 cents per mile who runs 2,500 miles in a good week earns very differently from one paid a flat hourly rate, and detention pay, layover pay, stop pay, and per-diem can all swing the real number. When you compare two Georgia offers, look past the headline rate to the full pay package and the realistic weekly miles, because that is what actually determines where you land in the percentile table above.

Truck driver salary by Georgia metro

Where you base out of moves the number more than almost anything else inside the state. Freight density, port access, and the mix of local versus long-haul work explain most of the spread. Here are the five Georgia metros with the most reported driver employment, per BLS (2025).

Atlanta leads on both pay and sheer volume. With 41,830 drivers, it employs more than half of the entire state total of 74,840, and its $59,100 median runs $2,050 above the statewide figure. That’s the engine of Georgia trucking. The interstate crossroads of I-75, I-85, and I-20 plus a dense warehouse and distribution corridor keep freight moving and wages competitive.

Savannah is the surprise for many drivers. At $58,930, its median nearly matches Atlanta’s, and the reason is the Port of Savannah. Container traffic feeds steady drayage and regional work, and port-adjacent freight tends to pay well for the miles. If you want strong pay without Atlanta’s congestion, Savannah is the clearest alternative in the state.

Gainesville at $56,770 sits just under the state median, while Dalton comes in at $53,760, reflecting its more regional, manufacturing-driven freight base. Dalton’s economy leans heavily on the flooring and carpet industry, which generates steady but more local freight, and that shows up in a median that runs $3,290 under the statewide figure. Augusta-Richmond County trails the group at $47,920, which is $9,130 below the statewide median and $11,180 below Atlanta. A driver weighing two otherwise similar jobs should treat that metro gap as real money, because the same hours behind the wheel can pay very differently depending on which corner of the state the work is based in.

The practical takeaway from this table is that geography is a pay lever you can actually pull. The spread from Augusta’s $47,920 to Atlanta’s $59,100 is $11,180, which is wider than the gap between Georgia’s median and the 75th percentile in the experience table above. For many drivers, relocating within the state, or simply choosing a carrier with terminals in Atlanta or Savannah rather than Augusta, does more for annual pay than another year or two of experience would. The two coastal and metro hubs also tend to offer more freight variety, which means more chances to move into the better-paying lanes that push you up the percentile ladder. If you have flexibility on where to base, the data says base where the freight and the money are.

Take-home pay after taxes in Georgia

Gross salary is the headline. What hits your account is the number that runs your life. Georgia taxes personal income, so a driver’s paycheck gets trimmed by federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare), and Georgia state income tax. The table below shows estimated take-home at four points on the BLS (2025) pay range, for the 2026 tax year, based on a single filer with standard assumptions.

The median Georgia driver keeps about $45,450 of a $57,050 salary, an effective tax bite of 20.3 percent, leaving roughly $3,787 a month. At the entry level the effective rate is lighter at 18.0 percent, and it rises to 23.4 percent at the senior end as more income falls into higher federal brackets. State tax alone runs from $1,409 at entry to $3,552 at the top of the range. Notice how the bite grows as you climb: an entry driver loses about $6,867 of $38,150 to all taxes combined, while a senior driver gives up roughly $18,263 of $77,900. That’s the progressive federal system at work, and it’s why a raise never feels quite as large in your bank account as it does on paper.

FICA is the steadiest line in the table. At 7.65 percent of wages it scales almost linearly with pay, running from $2,918 at the entry level to $5,959 at the senior level, and unlike federal income tax there’s no bracket structure to it at these income levels. That predictability is useful for budgeting: of every additional dollar you earn as a Georgia driver, a fixed slice goes to Social Security and Medicare, while the federal income-tax slice grows as you move up. The monthly net figures, from $2,607 at entry to $4,970 at the senior end, are the numbers to build a household budget around, since they’re what actually arrives.

Here’s the cross-state comparison that matters most. Take the same $57,050 median salary and run it through Texas, which has no state income tax. A Georgia driver nets about $45,450, while the identical earner in Texas nets roughly $47,878. That’s a gap of $2,428 a year, all of it Georgia state income tax, that a Texas driver simply never pays. Over a decade that’s more than $24,000 in pre-investment dollars. It’s a genuine difference, and it’s worth knowing before you compare two offers across state lines.

That said, the sticker tax gap isn’t the whole story, and it’s a smaller number than the metro pay gaps inside Georgia itself. The $2,428 you’d save in Texas is real, but recall that choosing Atlanta over Augusta is worth $11,180 a year in gross pay, several times larger. Tax differences between states are easy to overrate when comparing offers, because they’re a fixed percentage, while where you base and what you haul can move your gross by far more. Net pay minus local housing is the number that actually matters. A higher net in one place can vanish if rent and home prices are steeper there, and a smaller net can stretch further where housing is cheap. Before you take a Texas offer over a Georgia one purely on the tax difference, weigh what each paycheck buys after the roof over your head is paid for. To see your own figure rather than a percentile, run your salary through the Georgia paycheck calculator. When you file, software like TurboTax can help you capture per-diem and work-related deductions that drivers often miss.

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How to earn more as a truck driver in Georgia

The percentile jumps above aren’t luck. They come from specific, repeatable moves. If you want to climb from the $57,050 median toward the $68,780 experienced mark or the $77,900 senior level, these are the levers that work in this state. The math is worth stating plainly: reaching the 75th percentile means roughly $11,730 more a year than the median, and the 90th percentile is $20,850 above it. That kind of raise rarely comes from waiting. It comes from the moves below.

• Add endorsements. Hazmat, tanker, and doubles/triples endorsements open up freight that pays more per mile. The work is more demanding and the qualification bar is higher, which is exactly why it pays better.
• Target Atlanta or Savannah lanes. The two highest-paying metros in the state, at $59,100 and $58,930, also have the deepest freight markets. Basing out of a high-volume hub means more consistent miles and more bargaining power to pick better-paying accounts.
• Chase port and drayage work near Savannah. The Port of Savannah feeds steady container freight. Port-adjacent work helped push the metro’s median to $58,930, nearly matching Atlanta despite a fraction of the driver count.
• Move into dedicated or specialized hauling. Dedicated accounts, refrigerated freight, and oversized loads typically sit in the upper percentiles. These are how drivers reach the 75th and 90th percentile pay shown above.
• Protect your record and your tenure. A clean CSA score and safe miles are the currency that carriers reward with better lanes and tenure-based raises. The path from median to senior pay usually runs through years of clean driving with a carrier that pays for loyalty.
• Build adjacent skills. Logistics, dispatch, and fleet-management know-how create a path off the road later without leaving the industry. Short courses on platforms like Coursera can help you pick up supply-chain and logistics fundamentals if you’re eyeing that move.

Job outlook for truck drivers in Georgia

Trucking is one of the largest occupations in the state. Georgia employs 74,840 heavy and tractor-trailer drivers, per BLS (2025), and more than half of them, 41,830, work in metro Atlanta alone. That concentration reflects Georgia’s role as a Southeastern logistics hub, anchored by the Port of Savannah, the Atlanta interstate crossroads, and a dense network of distribution centers.

For drivers, scale like that means options. A large employment base supports steady hiring, multiple carriers competing for qualified drivers, and the ability to switch jobs without relocating. If you’re comparing openings, a job board such as ZipRecruiter lets you filter Georgia driving roles by metro, freight type, and pay so you can see how live offers stack up against the BLS medians on this page.

Truck driver pay in nearby states

Compare Georgia against the national picture and other large states to see where the same job pays differently.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) 2025; ThePayGuide tax modeling for the 2026 tax year. Last updated 2026. See our methodology.