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Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers vs Light Truck Drivers

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers and Light Truck Drivers on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers Light Truck Drivers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$57,440
$44,140
Employment · BLS OEWS
2,070,480
994,410
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
45th pct
38th pct

At a glance

Dimension Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers Light Truck Drivers
Median pay $57,440 $44,140
Employment 2,070,480 994,410
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+4.0%) Growing fast (+7.3%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 237,600 120,200
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 45th pct Moderate · 38th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 45th pct · 25% of tasks 51st pct · 28% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Automation-leaning (40.5%) —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Far Vision, Transportation, Spatial Orientation, Control Precision, Multilimb Coordination, Response Orientation, Rate Control, Public Safety and Security, Operation and Control, Reaction Time, Customer and Personal Service, Problem Sensitivity, English Language, Near Vision, Depth Perception, Selective Attention, Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Time Management, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Information Ordering, Category Flexibility, Visualization, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Manual Dexterity, Static Strength.

Specific to Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

  • Operations Monitoring
  • Law and Government
  • Troubleshooting
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Time Sharing
  • Night Vision
  • Peripheral Vision
  • Glare Sensitivity

Specific to Light Truck Drivers

  • Active Listening
  • Trunk Strength
  • Stamina
  • Inductive Reasoning
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Extent Flexibility
  • Speech Recognition
  • Speech Clarity

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Operating system software , Route navigation software , Inventory management software , Data base user interface and query software , Desktop communications software .

Specific to Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

Specific to Light Truck Drivers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers or Light Truck Drivers — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers vs Light Truck Drivers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers-vs-light-truck-drivers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers vs Light Truck Drivers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers-vs-light-truck-drivers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers-vs-light-truck-drivers,
  title  = {Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers vs Light Truck Drivers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers-vs-light-truck-drivers}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.