Carrier Geography Analysis

Analysis

· as of April 17, 2026

The sharpest divergence in this dataset is not between large and small states by carrier count, but between states where carriers are numerous and small versus states where they are fewer but substantially larger by fleet. Georgia illustrates this clearly: its 132,010 registered carriers — roughly 45% fewer than Texas's 241,794 — control 7,225,502 total power units, compared to Texas's 7,096,496, as of April 2026 records. Georgia's average fleet size of 59.8 power units per carrier is nearly twice Texas's 32.0, which likely reflects the concentration of large logistics and third-party carriers operating out of the Atlanta metro corridor rather than any statewide structural shift. Florida presents a similar pattern: 185,537 carriers averaging 48.7 power units produce a total power unit pool of 8,215,296 — higher than Texas despite roughly 56,000 fewer carrier registrations. California leads on raw carrier count at 369,436, representing 13.94% of the national total, but its average fleet size of 34.1 power units sits below Florida, Georgia, New York (45.0), and New Jersey (48.7), suggesting California's dominance in registration count is driven substantially by smaller owner-operators and micro-fleets rather than large carriers. Massachusetts is an outlier worth noting: 46,283 carriers — a relatively modest figure — average 101.1 power units each, pointing to an unusually large-fleet composition that may indicate a concentration of specialized or institutional carriers registered in the state. The dataset spans 114 distinct jurisdiction codes, including Canadian provinces such as Ontario (9,484 carriers) and Alberta (3,405), as well as a range of international codes, which is consistent with cross-border operating authority registrations filed with FMCSA by foreign-domiciled carriers. The top five states collectively account for 40.4% of all 2,649,516 registered carriers as of April 2026, a concentration that has persisted over the trailing 60 months of data and is consistent with long-running patterns of carrier density tracking freight volume, port activity, and population centers.