Trucking companies in Minneapolis-St. Paul: the metro's carriers by county, size and type, and how to vet one

This report is for Twin Cities shippers, distributors and manufacturers choosing a carrier, drivers comparing local employers, and B2B sellers whose customers are trucking companies, from truck washes and repair shops to insurers, staffing firms and software vendors.

The metro in Census data

US Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, NAICS 484 (Truck Transportation), Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area (CBSA 33460):

The metro takes in 15 counties, including Pierce and St. Croix in Wisconsin. The eight with the most trucking establishments:

Dakota County, south of the river around Eagan, holds 28.4% of the metro's trucking jobs. The outer counties (Scott, Wright, Sherburne) have plenty of establishments but average only six or seven employees each, while Ramsey's average 20.8.

Terminals, truckload and local freight

Long-distance truckload carries 43.5% of the metro's trucking jobs. The 77 less-than-truckload (LTL) terminals average 43.5 employees each, with dock crews, pickup-and-delivery drivers and linehaul, which makes each one a sizable customer on its own.

The Census Bureau doesn't publish the two largest classes for the metro. Because the total is published, the 100-or-more band (36) is the total less the smaller bands, so two establishments have 500 or more employees. In broader bands, 1,355 have 1 to 19 employees and 158 have 20 to 99. CBP counts locations with paid employees, not companies, and leaves out owner-operators with no payroll and private fleets counted in other industries.

What the federal register adds

FMCSA's Company Census File (29 October 2026) lists 39,595 active USDOT registrations with a physical address in the metro's 15 counties. Without bus operators, 16,446 are for-hire and 19,217 are private fleets only, the farm, contractor and delivery trucks of other businesses.

Among the for-hire carriers, 5,927 operate interstate and 10,507 (63.9%) only within the state. Of those reporting a fleet, 9,297 run one power unit (63.5%), 4,756 run 2 to 10, 477 run 11 to 50, and 93 run more than 50 with a driver count to match. Only 40.7% of for-hire records were updated in the last 24 months, the interval federal rules set for the MCS-150 (49 CFR 390.19), so many listings describe carriers as they were years ago.

The largest for-hire fleets registered in the metro

Active for-hire records in the 15 metro counties, updated since October 2024, drivers at least half the power units; waste and construction-materials fleets left out. Self-reported.

One large Eagan carrier is missing because its record is stale: Dart Transit Company reports 971 power units but last updated its MCS-150 in May 2024. Three of the twelve fleets above are in Eagan, which matches Dakota County's outsized share of jobs in the Census data.

No SEC-listed company in the trucking SIC codes (4210 to 4231) is headquartered in the metro. The large listed freight company here is a broker: C.H. Robinson Worldwide, at 14701 Charlson Road in Eden Prairie, reported $16.23 billion of 2025 revenue, 11,855 employees and 450,000 contract carriers on its platform in its 10-K. For Twin Cities carriers, that makes the brokerage desk a customer and a competitor at once.

How to vet a Twin Cities carrier

1. Read the SAFER snapshot in FMCSA's Company Snapshot, and check the MCS-150 date in it: with fewer than half of metro for-hire records current, a stale record is a question to ask.
2. For loads that stay in Minnesota, confirm the carrier's MnDOT Certificate of Registration; MnDOT says a for-hire carrier of property can't legally operate until it has one. The Minnesota trucking report covers the insurance filing and new-carrier rules.
3. Ask how they handle spring. MnDOT's metro zone ran spring load restrictions from 3 March to 20 April 2026, after winter load increases from 16 December 2025 to 3 March. Ask how the carrier plans heavy loads during those weeks.
4. Check insurance against the load. Interstate for-hire carriers need at least $750,000 of liability cover for general freight (49 CFR 387.9).
5. Ask for references in the same suburb. A carrier that runs daily routes out of Eagan or Shakopee will know the docks and the traffic; ask for two shippers there.

Prospecting Twin Cities trucking companies

Seasonal timing is the Twin Cities' built-in trigger: the spring restriction weeks and the first heavy snow both change what a fleet needs that month. For finding the owner, fleet manager or terminal manager at each, see how to find decision makers.

Illustrative example. The business, prices and sign-up rate are invented; the carrier counts are from FMCSA's October 2026 file.

North Loop Truck Wash (northlooptruckwash.example) sells monthly wash plans to fleets. It targets for-hire carriers in Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka, Washington and Scott counties with 6 to 50 power units and a current MCS-150: 618 carriers with 9,076 power units, about 15 each. If 4% (25 fleets) sign up at $55 per truck per month, that's $247,500 a year. The pitch is timed for March, when the salt comes off. Bebop can build a list like this from a plain description and find the fleet manager at each.

Subject: [company]'s trucks after the salt season

Hi [first name],

Your [number] trucks out of [city] have had a winter of road salt on them. We wash fleets on a monthly plan at our [location] bays, nights and weekends, so trucks aren't off the road during shifts.

Could I set up a free first wash for five of your units the week of [date]?

[Your name]

Twin Cities sources

Next step: for the rest of the state, from St. Cloud to Duluth, see the report on trucking companies in Minnesota.