Truck Dispatcher: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
10% of truck dispatchers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $36,030
- Hourly
- $17.32
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of truck dispatchers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $42,750
- Hourly
- $20.56
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of truck dispatchers earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $50,340
- Hourly
- $24.20
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of truck dispatchers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $62,450
- Hourly
- $30.02
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of truck dispatchers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $78,140
- Hourly
- $37.57
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Truck Dispatchers schedule and dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles for conveyance of materials, freight, or passengers, or for normal installation, service, or emergency repairs rendered outside the place of business. The median pay is $50,340 a year ($24.20 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a high school diploma or equivalent (47% of workers surveyed by O*NET).
- Median pay
- $50,340
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 202,810
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 1-2 of 5
- very little to some preparation
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
- 47% of workers
Data Government data groups this job as Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance (O*NET-SOC 43-5032.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.
Truck Dispatchers at a glance
Workers in the BLS occupation “Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance” in the United States earned a median annual wage of $50,340 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education for workers in the BLS occupation “Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance” in the United States.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS projects employment of workers in the BLS occupation “Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance” in the United States to decline 0.7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 16,000 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS estimates that 8.3% of dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance in the United States had the ability to telework in 2025, a preliminary estimate of whether the job allows it, not a count of remote jobs.
Source: BLS Occupational Requirements Survey, 2025 preliminary
Every page for Truck Dispatchers
What truck dispatchers do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Schedule or dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles to appropriate locations, according to customer requests, specifications, or needs, using radios or telephones.
- Prepare daily work and run schedules.
- Confer with customers or supervising personnel to address questions, problems, or requests for service or equipment.
- Relay work orders, messages, or information to or from work crews, supervisors, or field inspectors, using telephones or two-way radios.
- Receive or prepare work orders.
- Record and maintain files or records of customer requests, work or services performed, charges, expenses, inventory, or other dispatch information.
- Arrange for necessary repairs to restore service and schedules.
- Monitor personnel or equipment locations and utilization to coordinate service and schedules.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, Public Safety and Security, Administration and Management, Administrative, English Language, Transportation.
Software truck dispatchers use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- Kronos Workforce TimekeeperTime accounting softwareHot technology
- Air-Trak CloudberryMobile location based services software
- Bornemann Associates Flight PlanAviation ground support software
- Computer aided dispatch softwareHelpdesk or call center software
- Computer aided dispatching auto routing softwareExpert system software
- Dr. DispatchMobile location based services software
- ESRI ArcIMSGeographic information system
- Geomechanical design analysis GDA softwareMap creation software
- Global positioning system GPS softwareMobile location based services software
- Locomotive distribution softwareData base reporting software
- Rail Traffic Track Warrant Control SystemExpert system software
- Resource management softwareMobile location based services software
Also called: Aircraft Dispatcher, Charter Coordinator, City Dispatcher, Dispatcher (Dispatch), Mine Dispatcher, Paratransit Dispatcher.
How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.