Truck drivers' salaries vary by almost $20,000 across the US — here's where truckers make the most, ranked by state

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• Some truck drivers have been enjoying pay raises recently.

• Some states are more lucrative than others for truckers.

• Truck driver salary is highest in Alaska, where they earned a median wage of $56,250 last year. 

Truck driver salaries have been on the up and up for some truckers in 2018.

Nearly 50% of all truckers in the National Transportation Institute's quarterly survey on trucker pay received salary bumps in 2018, according to Gordon Klemp, principal of the National Transportation Institute. Last year, only 11% did.

America's nearly 1.8 million tractor-trailer truck drivers earned a median income of $44,500 nationwide in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labr Statistics.

Truck driver salary is highest in Alaska, where they earned a median of $56,250 last year. In comparison, in West Virginia, truckers earned a median of $38,580 — the lowest nationwide.

Business Insider gathered the median income in each state for long-haul truck drivers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and ranked them in ascending order. Take a look below to see how well your state pays its truck drivers.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

See Also:

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• Rest breaks are a 'drag on the economy,' and the federal government says California truck drivers don’t need them