Truck Driver Pay in Hawaii (2026)

Key numbers at a glance

Truck driver pay in Hawaii: the numbers

The benchmark here is the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, May 2025 release. Hawaii is a small market — roughly 4,070 driver jobs statewide, about 6.5 of every 1,000 jobs — so single-year estimates can swing more than in big mainland states. Annual figures assume 2,080 hours, meaning full-time equivalents rather than guaranteed paychecks.

Notice how narrow the band is: from the 10th percentile ($47,480) to the 90th ($74,530) spans under $27,000, which is tight by national standards — the spread nationally runs $40,140 to $79,380. Hawaii's floor is unusually high because almost nothing in the state's freight economy resembles the low-cost mega-carrier training market; there are no 48-state trainee mills in Honolulu. The ceiling, meanwhile, is modest because there is no long-haul premium to chase — miles cap out quickly on an island. Hourly and hourly-plus-overtime structures dominate, and BLS does not track cents-per-mile pay, which matters less here than in any other state.

How miles and freight shape pay in Hawaii

Hawaii is the one state where "OTR" barely exists. Nearly everything the islands consume arrives by water under the Jones Act — containerized goods carried from West Coast gates (typically Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland and Seattle) by carriers such as Matson and Pasha to Honolulu Harbor's Sand Island terminals and to neighbor-island ports. From there the job market splits three ways: harbor drayage running containers to distribution centers, short urban relays feeding grocery and retail chains, and the inter-island system, where ocean barges — historically dominated by Young Brothers — carry trailers between Oahu, Maui, the Big Island and Kauai, with drivers handling yard and pier work on both ends. Construction aggregates, fuel, propane and perishable food round out the traffic mix, per the state Department of Transportation's harbor freight planning.

That geography produces a regional and local job market almost by definition, and pay behavior follows: steady hourly wages, overtime after 40 hours, and strong demand whenever construction or port volumes tick up — but no per-mile treadmill, because a "long haul" in Hawaii might be 30 miles of H-1 congestion. Cost of living is the real wage story: housing, fuel and groceries in Hawaii typically run well above mainland averages, so a $60,850 mean that looks $1,140 ahead of the nation buys far less than a mainland dollar. Owner-operators are rare; those who do run equipment should price every move against the cost per mile realities of island fuel prices and run prospective jobs through the load profit calculator. For how Hawaii compares with mainland markets, see the truck driver pay by state hub.

The tax angle in Hawaii

Hawaii taxes wages through a progressive system with a dozen brackets running from 1.4% to a top rate of 11% (2026 legislation added a 13% bracket that only touches very high incomes). The 2023 tax-cut law has been phasing brackets down and widening them since 2024, and a driver earning near the statewide mean generally sits in the mid-single digits effective-rate territory — call it roughly $2,500–$3,500 a year to the state before credits. On an island where living costs dwarf most mainland metros, that state tax bite is real but secondary to housing costs. Verify current brackets and withholding with the Hawaii Department of Taxation, and for deduction basics that apply to drivers everywhere, see the trucking tax deductions guide.