Authority Trends Analysis
Snapshot from June 1, 2026. This analysis reflects FMCSA data available on that date and is preserved for citation.
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Analysis
· as of June 1, 2026Highlights
- Monthly authority grants collapsed from 9,808 in August 2021 to a 5-year low of 2,270 in May 2026, with revocations dropping to zero that same month.
- The net authority balance turned persistently negative in late 2022 and has remained negative in all but a handful of months since, totaling a net loss across most of 2023 and 2024.
- Contract authority has posted negative net figures every single month since June 2021, with revocations consistently outpacing grants throughout the entire 60-month window.
- February 2026 recorded only 832 total revocations against 4,839 grants, the lowest revocation count in the dataset, producing a net gain of 4,007 that month.
- Total grants over the trailing 12 months reached 58,655, down 2.0% from 59,847 in the prior 12-month period, while revocations fell more sharply from 76,527 to 54,757.
The most anomalous feature in this dataset is not the multi-year decline in new authority grants, but the near-complete disappearance of revocations in early 2026. After averaging roughly 6,000 to 7,000 total revocations per month through most of 2023 and 2024, total revocations fell to 832 in February 2026, dropped to 1 in March, and reached zero in both April and May 2026. This pattern is inconsistent with any organic market dynamic and likely reflects a processing lag, a regulatory or administrative change in how FMCSA records revocations, or incomplete data for the most recent months rather than an actual halt to enforcement activity. Analysts and journalists should treat the revocation figures from February 2026 onward as provisional.
Setting aside that anomaly, the underlying grant trend tells a coherent story of sustained contraction. Monthly common authority grants peaked near 9,000 in mid-2021 and had fallen to 3,783 by January 2024, a decline of more than 57% over roughly two and a half years. Grants have since partially recovered, reaching 5,173 in October 2025 and 5,185 in March 2026, but remain well below the 2021 baseline. Total grants over the trailing 12 months came in at 58,655, compared with 59,847 in the prior 12-month period, a year-over-year decline of 2.0%, suggesting the contraction has flattened rather than reversed.
The composition of grants has remained heavily skewed toward common authority throughout the period. Common authority accounted for 53,239 of the 58,655 grants in the trailing 12 months, or roughly 91%, with broker authority at 3,818 and contract authority at just 1,598. Contract authority is the smallest segment by grants and has run negative net every month in the dataset without exception, meaning revocations have exceeded new grants continuously since at least June 2021.
The pattern across 2022 through 2024 is consistent with the broader freight market correction that followed the pandemic-era capacity surge, during which carriers that obtained authority during the high-rate environment exited as spot rates normalized. The 60-month net across all authority types is positive at 39,280, but that figure is almost entirely attributable to the large surpluses posted in 2021 and early 2022; the market has been net negative in authority count for the majority of months since October 2022.
Key Statistics
Cite this data
AlphaLoops. (2026). Authority Trends — FMCSA Data Hub. Retrieved 2026-06-01 from https://runalphaloops.com/data/authority-trends.