Trucking companies in Arkansas: the state that headquarters the big carriers

This report is for shippers looking for an Arkansas carrier, drivers comparing employers, and B2B sellers whose customers are trucking companies: trailer and tire suppliers, technology vendors, insurers, recruiters and maintenance shops.

Arkansas trucking by the numbers

County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 484 (Truck Transportation), for the state of Arkansas.

Only Tennessee (23.6) has larger trucking establishments on average, by our calculation from the same state file. Arkansas has fewer establishments than Utah but 11,000 more trucking jobs.

The public carriers headquartered here

All three are in SIC 4213 (trucking, except local) and listed on Nasdaq. Figures are from each company's 10-K for 2025.

PAM's filing describes northwest Arkansas as "a major center for the trucking industry and where the support services for most major truck and trailer equipment manufacturers are readily available." Together the three report $16.6 billion of revenue.

Where the jobs are

Benton and Washington counties, northwest Arkansas, have 221 establishments and 15,911 employees, 41.7% of the state's trucking jobs. In Benton County, 69 long-distance truckload establishments employ 11,434 people, 166 each.

What kind of trucking

Truckload carriers hold 65.0% of Arkansas trucking jobs at 39 employees per site. The Census Bureau published the specialized long-distance employee count but flagged it as high-noise (confidentiality noise moved it by 5% or more), so it's left out.

In broader bands: 1,417 establishments have 1 to 19 employees, 180 have 20 to 99 and 43 have 100 or more, including nine with 500 or more. The counts cover establishments with paid employees, not companies, and leave out owner-operators without staff and private fleets counted in other industries, such as a retailer's own trucks.

In the federal register

FMCSA's Company Census File (29 October 2026) lists 9,843 active carrier registrations with an Arkansas address: 58.9% interstate, 67.1% declaring for-hire work, and 53.7% of those reporting trucks with just one. Carriers report these details themselves. About a quarter list grain, feed or hay and 23.4% list logs, poles or lumber, far higher shares than in Ohio or Indiana. Cargo types are self-reported too, and FMCSA's open-data file doesn't always match a carrier's own SAFER record, so treat these shares as indicative.

The largest for-hire fleets, filtered to records updated in 2024 or later with a driver count consistent with the fleet:

The largest private fleet is Wal-Mart Transportation in Bentonville, with 13,618 power units and 16,466 drivers.

Arkansas rules

ARDOT's Legal Division says all for-hire motor carriers transporting property or passengers in intrastate commerce, wholly within Arkansas, must apply for Arkansas intrastate authority. The Arkansas Highway Police enforce the federal safety regulations, which they began enforcing in 1989, and issue oversize and overweight permits. Interstate carriers need a USDOT number, operating authority and at least $750,000 of liability cover for general freight (49 CFR 387.9).

To check a carrier:

1. Search the USDOT or MC number in FMCSA's SAFER Company Snapshot for fleet size, inspections and crashes.
2. Confirm active authority and insurance in FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance search.
3. For a load that stays in Arkansas, ask for proof of ARDOT intrastate authority.
4. Ask a small carrier which shipper or larger carrier it hauls for most; a fleet that depends on one customer is exposed if that contract changes.

Selling to Arkansas carriers

The three listed carriers and FedEx Freight buy centrally, through procurement teams and long contracts. The more reachable market is the mid-size tier around them. For finding the people at both, see how to find decision makers.

Illustrative example. The vendor and its rates are invented; the counts are from FMCSA's register.

Ozark Yard Systems (ozarkyard.example) sells trailer tracking and yard check-in for carriers with drop-trailer operations. In the register, 98 for-hire carriers in Benton, Washington and Pulaski counties report 10 to 100 power units. Two contacts each (owner or president, and operations manager) gives 196 people; at a 7% reply rate, 14 conversations; if half agree to a 30-day trial on one yard, 7 trials. The opener uses what the carrier is known for in the register: its cargo, fleet size and home city. Bebop can find carriers matching that description and research each one.

Subject: Finding trailers at [city] yard

Hi [first name],

[Company] runs about [number] power units out of [city], and I'd guess your drivers still walk the yard to find empties before a dispatch.

We put a tracker on each trailer and show your yard on one screen, so dispatch knows what's loaded, empty or gone.

Could I set up a 30-day trial on your [city] yard? 15 minutes on [day] would do it.

[Your name]

Arkansas sources

Next step: see how J.B. Hunt and ArcBest rank nationally in the list of the largest trucking companies.