Hourly Trucking Pay: What Your Effective Hourly Rate Tells You
Why effective hourly gross pay is the best way to compare trucking jobs, and how to calculate it from weekly pay and total working hours.
Your effective hourly gross pay is your total weekly gross divided by the total hours you work in that week — every hour, paid or not.
The formula
Weekly gross ÷ total weekly working hours. $1,800 over 60 hours is $30.00 per hour. The same $1,800 over 45 hours is $40.00 per hour.
Hourly-paid drivers
If you're paid by the hour, your effective rate can still be lower than your posted rate when some work goes unpaid — pre-trip time that isn't clocked, or waiting time off the clock. Overtime rules for drivers vary and many driving positions are exempt from federal overtime under the Motor Carrier Act exemption, so don't assume overtime applies — check your actual pay stubs.
Count each hour once
If your logbook already shows an hour as on-duty, don't add it again as "unpaid work." Double-counting makes your hourly rate look lower than it is.
Find your real hourly pay in 60 seconds
Open the calculator