Home / Occupations / Commercial Truck Driver
Commercial Truck Driver
Commercial Truck Driver profiles score highest on Operating and Safety-Seeking. This page covers what the work involves, what the trait profile looks like, what it pays, and where the fit tends to break.
- Median pay
- $58,640per year, U.S. BLS 2025
- Entry education
- High schooltypical for the occupation
- Outlook
- BrightO*NET Bright Outlook occupation
SOURCE · O*NET 53-3032.00 and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Figures are national and vary widely by state and setting.
What the work involves
Drive a tractor-trailer combination or a truck with a capacity of at least 26,001 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). May be required to unload truck. Requires commercial drivers' license. Includes tow truck drivers.
Skills rated most important
Work context
O*NET importance and frequency ratings, 0–100.
The trait profile
Where Commercial Truck Driver profiles sit on the eleven Haliscope traits, derived from O*NET’s published interest and work-style data.
Who it fits, and who it doesn’t
Strong signals
- Low Analyzing. Measures your drive to understand systems and solve problems. High scorers are knowledge-seeking, strategic thinkers who enjoy investigating and finding solutions.
- Low Creating. Measures your inclination toward original thinking and artistic expression. High scorers generate innovative ideas and find rigid structure limiting.
- Low Exploring. Measures your openness to new experiences and curiosity about the unknown. High scorers seek novelty, enjoy experimentation, and value the journey itself.
- Low Harmonizing. Measures your focus on group cohesion and interpersonal peace. High scorers build consensus, facilitate cooperation, and prioritize team harmony.
- Low Helping. Measures your orientation toward supporting and serving others. High scorers find fulfillment in teaching, counseling, and contributing to others' success.
- Low Influencing. Measures your drive to lead, persuade, and shape outcomes. High scorers are confident communicators who naturally take charge and direct others.
- High Law-Abiding. Measures your commitment to ethics, rules, and fairness. High scorers value honesty, follow procedures, and prefer environments with clear moral guidelines.
- High Operating. Measures your preference for hands-on, practical work. High scorers thrive in action-oriented roles with tangible outputs and prefer doing over theorizing.
- High Organizing. Measures your preference for structure, detail, and systematic processes. High scorers excel at creating order, optimizing workflows, and maintaining precision.
- Moderate Persevering. Measures your persistence and resilience in the face of challenges. High scorers push through obstacles, maintain long-term focus, and value grit as both means and end.
- High Safety-Seeking. Measures your preference for stability and predictability. High scorers value security, prefer familiar environments, and carefully weigh risks before acting.
Friction points
- Low Law-Abiding. Measures your commitment to ethics, rules, and fairness. High scorers value honesty, follow procedures, and prefer environments with clear moral guidelines.
- Low Operating. Measures your preference for hands-on, practical work. High scorers thrive in action-oriented roles with tangible outputs and prefer doing over theorizing.
- Low Safety-Seeking. Measures your preference for stability and predictability. High scorers value security, prefer familiar environments, and carefully weigh risks before acting.
These are what the occupation’s profile says, not a hiring criterion. Haliscope is not validated for hiring or screening, and none of these is disqualifying — they are where a fit most often breaks.
Getting in
Entry education: High school.
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
O*NET Job Zone descriptions, U.S. Department of Labor.
Exposure to AI
How much of this work AI can already do, and how much AI tools help the people doing it, is scored task by task in the AI Risk Index.
Related occupations
Is this profile yours?
Take the assessment and see your eleven scores against this occupation and every other one Haliscope scores. A preview of your results is free; the full report is $10.00.
Start the assessment