Truck Driver Pay in Virginia (2026)

Key numbers at a glance

Truck driver pay in Virginia: the numbers

The benchmark is the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, May 2025 release. Virginia counts roughly 48,750 driver jobs — about 11.9 of every 1,000 jobs in the state — spread between the dense eastern metros and the valley and Southside regions where trucking is a way of life. Annual figures assume 2,080 hours, so treat them as full-time equivalents rather than guarantees.

Virginia's averages sit below national on nearly every cut, and the shape explains why: a very low 10th percentile of $38,180 — thousands of trainee seats at the mega-carrier terminals scattered along the I-81 corridor — pulls the mean down, while the top end recovers most of the way ($77,040 at the 90th percentile). In other words, the state pays normal money for experienced work and entry-level money for entry-level work, and the blended average lands a hair under the national line. Living costs split the story the same way: Northern Virginia is expensive, while the Roanoke-to-Bristol corridor is among the most affordable trucking country in the country. CPM dominates the OTR fleets; hourly and hourly-plus-overtime structures are common in port drayage and metro P&D, though BLS does not track CPM and offers vary — confirm specifics with the carrier.

How miles and freight shape pay in Virginia

Virginia freight has three anchors. The Port of Virginia — Norfolk International Terminals, Virginia Inland Port and the related rail ramps — is one of the busiest container gateways on the East Coast, and it feeds a large drayage pool in Hampton Roads plus rail-intermodal transfers inland. The I-81 corridor down the Shenandoah Valley is one of the most heavily trucked highways in the United States, carrying through-freight between the Northeast and the Southeast as well as serving the valley's own distribution and food plants — and its grades and congestion are a fact of operating life. And the I-95 corridor through Northern Virginia ties the state to the Baltimore–Washington consumption market, with massive DC fulfillment in the Fredericksburg-to-Richmond belt. Roughly speaking, drivers choose among port and rail drayage (hourly or per-move), East Coast regional relays (CPM plus accessorials), and classic OTR lanes running the Eastern Seaboard and out I-40 or I-80 toward the Midwest.

Operationally, two things deserve respect: NoVA traffic, which can burn hours on a 60-mile reposition and quietly wreck an effective hourly rate, and I-81's mountain grades in winter. Owner-operators should run every offer through the load profit calculator with honest clock assumptions, and price tolls, fuel and congestion into their true cost per mile rather than trusting the posted rate. For more state-by-state comparisons, see the truck driver pay by state hub.

The tax angle in Virginia

Virginia taxes wages with a graduated state income tax of 2% on the first bracket up to a 5.75% top marginal rate — a structure that has been stable for years, and one where nearly all of a typical driver's income falls at or near the top marginal bracket; verify current rates with the Virginia Department of Taxation. On the $57,770 state mean, that is roughly $3,200–$3,400 a year to Richmond before credits — one of the larger tax bites in this series, and worth weighing against the below-national mean wage. Border drivers note the asymmetry: Tennessee and North Carolina tax less or nothing on wages, so where you domicile matters at this income level. Owner-operators still owe federal income and self-employment tax; for deduction basics that apply everywhere, see the trucking tax deductions guide.