How much do tow truck drivers make? The 2025 federal pay data, state by state

Tow truck drivers in the US make a median of about $48,810 a year, or $23.47 an hour, according to the federal government's newest wage survey. That is roughly $9,800 less than the typical heavy truck driver earns. Where you tow matters even more: towing companies in Massachusetts paid an average of $84,619 last year, and in West Virginia, $42,600.

There is no official job title called "tow truck driver," which is why most salary pages online quote guesses. We pulled the closest federal numbers straight from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): the May 2025 wage survey and the 2025 payroll count for every towing company in the country. Everything here was checked on November 2, 2026.

How we found tow driver pay in federal data

BLS sorts workers by what they do and by the kind of business that employs them. It has no separate code for tow operators. So we looked at the industry group that holds towing companies, "other support activities for road transportation" (NAICS 4884), and at the biggest job inside it: "heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers" (code 53-3032).

That group is mostly towing, but not only. Census defines it as towing (488410) plus businesses such as pilot cars, weigh stations, toll bridges and independent driving services. BLS payroll counts put 73,303 private jobs in towing and 40,939 in the rest in 2025. So treat the numbers below as the closest official measure of tow driver pay, not a tow-only payroll.

In May 2025, BLS counted 50,180 heavy truck drivers in this group, the largest single job in it. Here is how their pay spreads out, from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

These wages include commissions, tips and incentive pay, so a driver paid partly by the tow is counted with that pay. They leave out overtime pay, according to the survey's technical notes. A driver who works a lot of night and weekend calls can take home more than these figures show.

Tow driver vs. other truck driver pay

The gap with the rest of trucking is the surprise. Across all industries, the median heavy truck driver made $58,640 in May 2025. That is $9,830 more than the median for heavy truck drivers in the towing group.

Drivers of smaller trucks in the same group earned less again. BLS counted 2,430 light truck drivers there, those who drive trucks of 26,000 pounds or less, with a median of $42,860.

Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, series for industry 4884 and national estimates; garbage collector figures from our garbage truck driver salary breakdown of the same survey.

So a tow driver and a garbage collector land in about the same place, both well under a long-haul or freight driver. Tow work is local, and the pay looks more like local delivery than over-the-road freight.

What towing companies actually pay, and how fast it's rising

A second BLS program, the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), counts every worker on a towing company's payroll from unemployment insurance records. It covers the towing industry alone, but it includes everyone on staff: drivers, dispatchers, yard workers and managers. Its pay figures include bonuses and tips.

In 2025, private towing companies ran 10,722 locations with an average of 73,303 workers. Average annual pay was $58,451, or $1,124 a week, up 3.9% from 2024.

The longer trend is steeper. Average pay in towing rose from $41,675 in 2019 to $58,451 in 2025, a 40% increase. Over the same years the consumer price index rose about 26%, so towing pay outran inflation.

Source: BLS QCEW, NAICS 488410, private towing companies, annual averages. QCEW leaves out proprietors and the unincorporated self-employed, so many owner-operators are not in these counts.

The biggest jump came in 2021 and 2022, when average pay rose by about $8,600 in two years. Since 2023 the number of towing locations has stayed flat at about 10,700 while pay kept climbing.

Tow truck driver salary by state

QCEW also breaks the towing industry down by state. The table ranks average annual pay at towing companies in 2025, with the number of workers and locations. Remember that this average covers everyone on the payroll, not only drivers, and an average runs higher than a median.

Source: BLS QCEW 2025 annual averages, NAICS 488410, private ownership. BLS withholds the figures for Alaska, Maine, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, D.C., to protect the privacy of individual companies.

Massachusetts stands far above the rest at $84,619, about double West Virginia's $42,600. The four states with the most towing workers sit in the middle: California ($58,114, 11,491 workers), Texas ($62,138, 7,141), Florida ($57,947, 5,475) and Ohio ($57,276, 2,918). New York paid $58,713 and New Jersey $57,450.

What the numbers don't show

Federal data can't tell you how a particular tow company pays. Some pay by the hour, some a share of each tow bill, some a mix. None of that shows up as its own line in BLS data, and we won't print the commission percentages that circulate online without a source. We're asking tow owners we interview how they pay their drivers and will add their answers here.

What a company can bill also sets a ceiling on what it can pay. Several states and cities cap what towers can charge for a private-property tow; our guide to how much a tow company can charge lists those caps.

The job also carries a risk that the pay tables don't price in. The Emergency Responder Safety Institute's 2025 report lists 11 tow operators among the 36 responders struck and killed by passing vehicles that year, compared with 16 police officers. That is the danger move over laws in all 50 states are meant to reduce. If you're ever the one waiting for a truck, here's what a tow owner wishes you'd do while you wait.