Truck Driver Pay in Vermont (2026)

Key numbers at a glance

Truck driver pay in Vermont: the numbers

The benchmark is the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, May 2025 release. Vermont counts roughly 3,560 driver jobs statewide — about 11.7 of every 1,000 jobs — the smallest market in this series, which means every percentile rests on a thin sample and moves more year to year than big-state figures. Annual figures assume 2,080 hours, so treat them as full-time equivalents.

Vermont is a narrow-band market: nearly everyone earns between the high $40,000s and mid $70,000s. The 10th percentile of $48,900 is the standout — an entry-level Vermont driver out-earns roughly the bottom quarter of drivers nationally, because a labor-scarce rural state cannot staff trucks at national-floor wages. The trade-off is the ceiling: $74,700 at the 90th percentile trails the national $79,380, and the 75th percentile of $64,900 shows how quickly the ladder flattens. There is simply no large-fleet headquarters economy, big-box DC belt or port complex generating premium volumes of top-end seats. Pay structures lean hourly for local agricultural, construction and manufacturing work, with CPM more common on the New England regional lanes; BLS does not track CPM and carrier offers vary — confirm specifics with the carrier.

How miles and freight shape pay in Vermont

Vermont freight is extractive and agricultural at its root. The state ships out sawlogs, lumber and paper-sector products; milk and dairy feeds a regional food system with substantial refrigerated movement; granite and dimension stone still move from the Barre quarries; and maple, craft food and beverage output punches above its weight. Two corridors carry the load: I-89 runs diagonally from the New Hampshire line through White River Junction and Montpelier to Burlington and the Canadian border gateways, and I-91 runs the eastern side from Massachusetts to Quebec. Both connect Vermont to the metro demand that pays the bills — Boston about 3 hours from the state's center, Albany and Montreal both within reach — so the classic Vermont driver runs regional: out in the morning or on Monday, into a New England metro, back for the reload. Local P&D, tanker milk routes and seasonal logging and construction hauls fill out the mix, and true coast-to-coast OTR is usually run under carriers headquartered well outside the state.

The operational realities are rural ones: slim load selection, long empty legs between small towns, weight-restricted town highways, and a genuine mudseason-to-winter calendar — spring frost heaves and February ice narrow the working year more than any dispatcher admits. Owner-operators should run every sparse-corridor offer through the load profit calculator and price deadhead honestly against their true cost per mile; in a state this small, the difference between a good lane and a bad one is often the return trip. For more state-by-state comparisons, see the truck driver pay by state hub.

The tax angle in Vermont

Vermont taxes wages through a progressive state income tax whose brackets span roughly 3.35% at the bottom to 8.75% at the top, with most middle-income driver wages taxed at effective state rates in the mid-single digits; verify current brackets with the Vermont Department of Taxes. On the $61,100 state mean, a Vermont driver typically sends several thousand dollars a year to Montpelier — a real drag on take-home pay next to no-tax neighbors like New Hampshire, and a key reason wage differentials in northern New England overstate the actual living-standard gap. Drivers who live near a border sometimes base themselves in New Hampshire while running Vermont freight; owner-operators apportion through their base state instead. For deduction basics that apply everywhere, see the trucking tax deductions guide.