Short answer
The Los Angeles metro (Los Angeles and Orange counties) had 8,285 trucking establishments with paid employees in 2023, employing 50,665 people on a $3.07 billion payroll (Census County Business Patterns), 4.87% of the US total. FMCSA lists 62,349 active for-hire property carriers there, 82% with one truck. Any truck entering a Port of Los Angeles terminal must be on the Port Drayage Truck Registry under the Clean Truck Program.
- LA and Orange counties have 8,285 trucking establishments; 6,756 (81.5%) have fewer than five employees.
- Local general freight is 44.0% of LA establishments, the drayage and delivery work around the ports.
- FMCSA lists 62,349 for-hire carriers; 6,831 list intermodal containers and only 34.0% updated their MCS-150 in two years.
- The Port of Los Angeles handled 10,239,318 TEUs in 2025, down from 10,297,352 in 2024.
- The Clean Truck Fund Rate is $10 per TEU on boxes moved by nonexempt trucks; zero-emission trucks are exempt.
On this page
This report is for importers, warehouse operators and brokers booking trucks in Los Angeles, drivers comparing carriers, and businesses that sell to them: truck dealers and lessors, charging and fuel providers, insurers, factoring firms and dispatch software.
Los Angeles trucking in Census data
County Business Patterns 2023 for NAICS 484 (Truck Transportation) in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area (CBSA 31080). The Census metro is Los Angeles and Orange counties only; the Inland Empire's Riverside and San Bernardino counties are a separate metro area.
| Measure (2023) | Los Angeles metro |
|---|---|
| Establishments | 8,285 |
| Employees (week of March 12) | 50,665 |
| Annual payroll | $3,073,923,000 |
| Average employees per establishment | 6.1 |
| Average annual pay | $60,672 |
| Share of US establishments | 4.87% of 170,286 |
| County | Establishments | Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County, California | 7,345 | 43,158 |
| Orange County, California | 940 | 7,507 |
| Type of trucking (NAICS) | Establishments | Employees | Average pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local general freight (484110) | 3,644 | 16,038 | $54,333 |
| Long-distance truckload (484121) | 2,753 | 13,539 | $59,161 |
| Specialized local freight (484220) | 798 | 6,601 | $83,995 |
| Household and office moving (484210) | 482 | 4,001 | $44,522 |
| Less-than-truckload (484122) | 357 | 8,167 | $64,114 |
| Specialized long-distance (484230) | 251 | 2,319 | $62,674 |
Local general freight, which includes port drayage and short-haul delivery, is 44.0% of establishments, far more than in an inland market. Specialized local carriers (tankers, flatbeds, heavy haul) pay the most, $83,995 on average.
| Employees per establishment | Establishments |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 6,756 |
| 5 to 9 | 670 |
| 10 to 19 | 404 |
| 20 to 49 | 274 |
| 50 to 99 | 111 |
| 100 to 249 | 48 |
| 250 to 499 | 17 |
| 500 to 999 | 5 |
| 1,000 or more | 0 |
That's 7,830 establishments with 1 to 19 employees, 385 with 20 to 99 and 70 with 100 or more. These are locations with a payroll, not companies, and the many owner-operators with no employees aren't counted.
The port and its gate rules
The Port of Los Angeles handled 10,239,318 TEUs (twenty-foot container units) in calendar 2025, against 10,297,352 in 2024. Neighboring Long Beach adds its own volume. Nearly every box leaves the terminals on a truck chassis, at least as far as a railyard or warehouse.
Trucks don't get in on a USDOT number alone. Under the San Pedro Bay ports' Clean Truck Program, as the Port of Los Angeles describes it:
| Requirement | What it means for a carrier |
|---|---|
| Port Drayage Truck Registry (PDTR) | Every truck entering a marine terminal must be registered; licensed motor carriers keep their concession and truck data current |
| Model year | New registrations entering service must be model year 2014 or newer (since October 1, 2018) |
| Clean Truck Fund Rate | $10 per TEU on containers moved by nonexempt trucks, collected since April 1, 2022 and paid by cargo owners, not drivers |
| Exemptions | Zero-emission trucks are exempt; low-NOx trucks registered by December 31, 2022 are exempt through December 31, 2027 |
| Goal | A zero-emission drayage fleet by 2035 |
What the register shows
FMCSA's Company Census File (updated 29 October 2026), active for-hire property carriers with at least one power unit and an address in Los Angeles or Orange County:
| FMCSA measure | LA and Orange counties |
|---|---|
| For-hire property carriers | 62,349 |
| Intrastate only | 47,685 (76.5%) |
| Interstate | 14,664 |
| One power unit | 51,339 (82.3%) |
| 2 to 9 power units | 9,676 |
| 10 or more power units | 1,334 |
| MCS-150 updated since 30 October 2024 | 21,212 (34.0%) |
| List intermodal containers as cargo | 6,831 (11.0%) |
| Private fleets only | 14,372 |
Two things stand out. Intermodal containers appear on 11.0% of for-hire records, against 4.0% in Florida, and only a third of carriers have filed the two-year update federal rules require (49 CFR 390.19), against 39.6% in Florida and 59.2% in Fresno. Cargo types are self-reported by carriers, and FMCSA's open-data file doesn't always match a carrier's own SAFER record, so the intermodal share is indicative. Treat an LA registration as a lead to check, not proof of an operating fleet.
Listed companies and the largest fleets
Two SEC-registered companies in the trucking and warehousing codes have business addresses in the metro, per their latest 10-K filings:
| Company | Headquarters | Latest revenue | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armlogi Holding Corp. | Walnut | $185,835,053 (year to June 30, 2026) | Warehousing and fulfillment for cross-border e-commerce sellers |
| Elite Express Holding Inc. | Laguna Hills | $2,665,948 (year to November 30, 2025) | A FedEx route delivery contractor with about 26 full-time employees and 23 vehicles |
Armlogi's revenue fell from $190,408,258 a year earlier. Neither is a large carrier; the big fleets here are private. Registered fleets from SAFER snapshots as of 28 October 2026:
| Carrier (SAFER legal name) | City | Power units | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| G I Trucking Company (Estes West) | La Mirada | 2,304 | 1,915 |
| Hansen & Adkins Auto Transport Inc | Los Alamitos | 965 | 816 |
| Bragg Investment Company Inc (Heavy Transport) | Long Beach | 530 | 462 |
| White Arrow LLC | Montebello | 414 | 408 |
| Daylight Transport LLC | Cypress | 386 | 386 |
| KKW Trucking Inc | Pomona | 379 | 306 |
| Dependable Highway Express Inc | Los Angeles | 312 | 240 |
How to vet an LA carrier
- Check SAFER for active status, operating authority as a motor carrier (not only a broker) and an MCS-150 dated within two years.
- For port work, confirm the carrier's concession and that the specific trucks are on the PDTR, and ask which are zero-emission or low-NOx exempt from the Clean Truck Fund Rate.
- Confirm California credentials: a Motor Carrier Permit and CA number, and engines that meet state rules (the Fresno report covers both).
- Ask who drives. Many LA carriers lease owner-operators; know who is responsible for the truck and the insurance on your load.
- Test with a few containers and measure turn times before giving a carrier a full vessel's worth.
Selling to LA trucking companies
Most buyers here are owners of one to five trucks, and they buy on cash flow: factoring, fuel cards, insurance, repairs and financing. The 70 establishments with 100 or more employees, including LTL terminals, buy equipment, technology and maintenance through managers. The Clean Truck Program creates a specific opening: every nonexempt truck pulling a box costs its customer $10 per TEU, which makes zero-emission trucks easier to sell to the cargo owner as well as the carrier.
Illustrative example. The company, its prices and its conversion rates are invented; the counts are FMCSA data above.
Harborline EV Lease (harborline.example) leases zero-emission drayage tractors. Its targets are the 6,831 LA and Orange County carriers listing intermodal containers. If the metro's multi-truck share (17.7% run two or more trucks) holds for them, about 1,210 are fleets rather than single owner-operators. At a 4% reply rate that's 48 conversations; if one in six signs for two trucks at $3,500 a month each, that's 8 fleets and $672,000 a year in leases. The opener is the customer's fee, not the truck. Bebop can build a list like this from a plain-language description and research each carrier first.
Sources for LA names
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program | PDTR, concession, model year and Clean Truck Fund rules |
| Port of Los Angeles container statistics | Monthly and annual TEUs |
| FMCSA Company Census File | Every USDOT record, filterable by Los Angeles and Orange counties |
| SAFER Company Snapshot | One carrier's status, authority, fleet and inspections |
Next step: see how a farm-freight market in the same state differs in the report on trucking companies in Fresno.
Sources
- County Business Patterns (CBP), 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- County Business Patterns datasets, 2023 (metro and county files), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Container statistics, Port of Los Angeles, accessed 30 October 2026
- Clean Truck Program, Port of Los Angeles, accessed 30 October 2026
- Company Census File, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (data.transportation.gov), updated 29 October 2026, accessed 30 October 2026
- SAFER Company Snapshot, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, data as of 28 October 2026, accessed 30 October 2026
- Armlogi Holding Corp. Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2026, US Securities and Exchange Commission, filed 28 September 2026
- Elite Express Holding Inc. Form 10-K for the year ended November 30, 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission, filed 27 February 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many trucking companies are in Los Angeles?
Census County Business Patterns counted 8,285 trucking establishments with paid employees in the Los Angeles metro (Los Angeles and Orange counties) in 2023, employing 50,665 people. FMCSA's register lists 62,349 active for-hire property carriers in the two counties, because it includes owner-operators without employees; 51,339 of them report a single power unit and 47,685 are intrastate only.
What is the Port Drayage Truck Registry?
The PDTR is the registry the San Pedro Bay ports use under the Clean Truck Program. Every truck entering a Port of Los Angeles marine terminal must be registered on it, and licensed motor carriers must hold a concession and keep their truck data current. New registrations entering service must be model year 2014 or newer, a rule in force since October 1, 2018.
What is the Clean Truck Fund Rate?
A $10 per TEU charge on containers moved through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach by nonexempt trucks. The ports set it in March 2020 and began collecting it on April 1, 2022. Cargo owners or their agents pay it, not truck drivers. Zero-emission trucks are exempt, and low-NOx trucks registered by December 31, 2022 are exempt through December 31, 2027.
What are the largest trucking companies in Los Angeles?
Among carriers registered in Los Angeles and Orange counties, G I Trucking Company (trading as Estes West) in La Mirada lists the most power units in SAFER, 2,304 as of 28 October 2026, followed by Hansen & Adkins Auto Transport in Los Alamitos with 965. The SEC-registered companies based in the metro, Armlogi and Elite Express, are a warehousing firm and a small FedEx route contractor.
How do I find a reliable drayage company in Los Angeles?
Start with carriers whose trucks are on the Port Drayage Truck Registry, then check each one's USDOT record in SAFER for active status, motor carrier authority, inspections and a recent MCS-150 update. Ask for its California Motor Carrier Permit and a certificate of insurance naming you, find out whether drivers are employees or leased owner-operators, and test turn times on a few containers first.