Updated July 2026
What Companies Pay Dry Van Drivers in the United States (July 2026)
the United States dry van pay, July 2026: not a single average but the whole distribution (25th, median, 75th, and 90th percentile), so you can benchmark your own number against the market. Right now the median is $1,500/week, the middle half of postings pay $1,200–$1,850, and the 90th percentile sits at $2,500, across 3,436 active postings.
The dry van pay spread in the United States right now
Median weekly pay
$1,500/wk
3,436 active postings · July 2026
Half of the United States postings pay between $1,200 and $1,850 a week; the top carriers (90th percentile) post $2,500. Find where your offer sits on the scale above.
| Hiring type | 25th | Median | 75th | Active postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company Driver (W2) | $1,100 | $1,300 | $1,525 | 1,802 |
| Independent Contractor (1099) | $1,450 | $1,750 | $2,150 | 1,192 |
| Owner Operator | $4,500 | $6,500 | $8,500 | 442 |
Source: Lanefinder index, July 2026
Behind the dry van pay premium
Dry van is the largest and most competitive segment, so its distribution is the closest thing to a market baseline: high posting volume, broad experience range, and pay clustered around the median. Carriers use it as the reference point other segments price against.
Benchmark your offer
If applications are slow, pay is the first thing to rule out. Tell us what you're offering and we'll show you where it sits in the July 2026 distribution, and how the fastest-hiring carriers on Lanefinder structure their offers.
CDL driver pay by segment
- Home time & miles for dry van drivers, the other half of the offer
- How fast carriers respond to dry van drivers, speed wins the hire
- Why steady miles beat top-line CPM, reframing the offer
- All segments: CDL driver pay benchmarks
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The methodology behind the benchmark
Source: active CDL job postings in Lanefinder's index. Per-posting pay is the midpoint of the posted weekly range. We filter outliers with the interquartile method, compute the quartile and 90th-percentile bands by nearest rank, and publish a segment only when at least 30 active postings back it. Read the full methodology. Updated July 2026.