Truck Driver Pay in Georgia (2026)

Key numbers at a glance

Truck driver pay in Georgia: the numbers

The benchmark for this page is the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, May 2025 release — the federal government's own series, covering roughly 74,840 driver jobs statewide (about 15.3 of every 1,000 jobs in Georgia, well above the national concentration). Annual figures assume 2,080 hours, so read them as full-time equivalents, not guarantees.

Georgia's curve has a low floor and a high ceiling: the 10th percentile of $38,150 reflects a huge entry-level training market around Atlanta, while the 90th percentile of $77,900 nearly matches the national top decile on the strength of long-haul, tanker and port-adjacent specialized work. The middle of the market sits only slightly under national figures — and with Georgia's cost of living below Northeast and West Coast levels, real purchasing power is competitive. CPM pay is central to the Georgia market because so many long-haul carriers domicile fleets there; BLS does not track per-mile wages, so treat advertised CPM as a carrier offer to negotiate, not a statistic.

How miles and freight shape pay in Georgia

Georgia is a genuine trucking heartland — the state both generates freight and hosts the networks that move it. Atlanta is the center: I-75, I-85 and I-20 cross there, I-285 rings a dense belt of distribution centers, rail intermodal ramps and national carrier terminals, and metro Atlanta functions as one of the country's biggest OTR domiciles — thousands of long-haul seats are based there, which is a key reason the state's employment concentration runs so high. Three hundred miles east, the Port of Savannah runs one of the busiest container operations on the East Coast, feeding drayage, warehousing and long-haul container legs. The rest of the state adds distinctive niches: carpet and flooring out of Dalton in the northwest, poultry processing around Gainesville, and automotive manufacturing at West Point and the new Hyundai-affiliated plant near Savannah, both generating parts and finished-vehicle freight.

Because the freight base is balanced — imports in at Savannah, exports and manufactured goods out, dense intermodal and distribution in between — Georgia supports all three work styles at scale: true coast-to-coast OTR from Atlanta terminals, Southeast regional loops (Atlanta–Jacksonville–Charlotte–Nashville–Birmingham), and local drayage and distribution in Atlanta and Savannah. For owner-operators, Atlanta's outbound lane depth means less deadhead than almost anywhere in the Southeast, but I-285 congestion burns hours, and Georgia's toll-free interstates still leave the math to be done: run every offer through the load profit calculator and know your true cost per mile before accepting. Compare wages across the region on the truck driver pay by state hub.

The tax angle in Georgia

Georgia taxes wages at a flat 4.99% for tax year 2026 — down from 5.19% in 2025 and 5.39% in 2024 under the state's scheduled rate cuts — with a $15,000 standard deduction for single filers, per the Georgia Department of Revenue. On the state's $57,780 mean wage, a single filer's state bill runs roughly $2,100–$2,900 depending on deductions — noticeably lighter than a Northeast state at similar income, and the rate is scheduled to keep stepping down if revenue triggers hold. Drivers who live in Alabama or Tennessee and run Atlanta freight pay their home state instead; owner-operators apportion through their base state. For deduction basics that apply everywhere, see the trucking tax deductions guide, and verify current rates with Georgia DOR before filing.