Employment

• The occupation of heavy truck driver is a large one, with over 1.4 million employed nationwide in 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. About 26,820 heavy truck drivers worked in Washington state, with the largest number by far in the greater Seattle area, including Bellevue and Tacoma, with 14,080 of these workers.
  
  

Salary Range

• The average salary of a heavy truck driver in Washington as of May 2010 was $20.50 per hour, or $42,640 per year, shows the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle 50 percent had pay rates of $16.62 to $23.83 per hour, or $34,570 to $49,570 per year. The bottom 10 percent were making $14.48 per hour and less, and the top 10 percent had wages of $28.01 per hour and higher, or $58,260 per year and more.
  
  

Extremes

• Heavy truck drivers in the highest-paying region for this occupation in Washington were earning about $22 per hour on average. This was the greater Seattle area, including cities such as Bellevue, Everett and Tacoma. The lowest-paying area in Washington for heavy truck drivers was the eastern nonmetropolitan area of the state, where their average salary was $16.87 per hour.
  
  

Other Regions

• Average salaries for Washington heavy truck drivers ranged from about $17.50 to $18.90 per hour in Bellingham, Longview, Olympia, Wenatchee, Yakima and in the central nonmetropolitan area of the state. The average hourly pay ranged from about $19 to $20 per hour in the Bremerton-Silverdale area, the Kennewick-Pasco-Richland region, the Mount Vernon-Anacortes area, Spokane, and in the northwestern and southwestern nonmetropolitan areas of the state.