Trucking companies in NYC: the five boroughs, New York State, and the rules every carrier works under

This report is for New York businesses looking for a local carrier or mover, drivers comparing employers, and B2B sellers whose customers are city trucking companies: routing and compliance software, insurers, truck dealers and body shops, fuel and parking providers.

New York City and New York State

County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 484 (Truck Transportation). The city figures cover Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens and Richmond counties.

The city's payroll total includes the Bronx's, which the Census Bureau flagged as high-noise: the noise it adds to protect confidentiality changed that figure by 5% or more. The employee totals carry lower noise flags, so treat the city's payroll and average pay as approximate. The state figures carry a low-noise flag.

The city has 39.0% of the state's trucking establishments but under 30% of its trucking jobs. Outside the city, New York's trucking establishments average 9.5 employees, against 6.2 in the five boroughs.

The five boroughs

Brooklyn and Queens are dense with one- and two-person carriers. The Bronx is the opposite: few establishments, many employees. In the federal register, the largest for-hire fleet in the city, Baldor Express Transportation, is a Bronx carrier whose SAFER snapshot lists refrigerated food and fresh produce.

We show establishments only here, because several borough employee counts at this level are flagged by the Census Bureau as high-noise. Movers are a bigger share in the city (11.7% of establishments) than in New Jersey (7.2%) or Ohio (4.1%).

The Census Bureau withholds every class from 20 employees up; together they account for 110 establishments (the total less the smaller classes). As everywhere, the count covers establishments with paid employees, and owner-operators without staff are left out.

The register, and why it's so big

NYSDOT says anyone operating a truck for business with a gross vehicle or combination weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more needs a USDOT number, whether the truck stays in New York or crosses state lines, and intrastate-only property carriers pay a $10 vehicle identification fee per vehicle each year. So New York's register includes contractors, plumbers and distributors as well as trucking companies: 125,991 active carrier registrations statewide, 84.5% of them intrastate only.

FMCSA's Company Census File (29 October 2026) for the five boroughs:

Every figure here is self-reported by carriers on form MCS-150, cargo types included, and FMCSA's open-data file doesn't always match a carrier's own SAFER record, so treat the produce share as indicative. By power units, the city's largest for-hire fleets (records updated in 2024 or later, driver counts consistent with the fleet):

After those five, no other for-hire fleet that passes these filters reports more than 81 power units. The biggest private fleets include Brooklyn Union Gas (National Grid NY, 1,030) and Manhattan Beer Distributors (371). No SEC-listed trucking company is headquartered in the five boroughs.

Rules for trucks in the city

• Truck routes. NYC DOT says the city has nearly 1,000 miles of designated truck routes, one of the most complex systems in the country, and an 80,000-pound gross weight limit. Route changes took effect on 4 October 2026, with additions or removals in all five boroughs, and a new truck route map will follow in 2027. Its Truck Smart guide is the official handbook for drivers.
• Congestion toll. The MTA's Congestion Relief Zone covers Manhattan at and below 60th Street. Small (single-unit) trucks pay $14.40 at peak and $3.60 overnight; large (multi-unit) trucks pay $21.60 and $5.40.
• State authority. NYSDOT licenses for-hire carriers operating within the state; authority for property carriers other than household goods requires a fit, willing and able finding. Household goods movers have their own NYSDOT rules.

Hiring a New York City carrier

1. Check the USDOT number in FMCSA's SAFER Company Snapshot: fleet, inspections, out-of-service rates and crashes.
2. For interstate for-hire moves (into New Jersey, for example), confirm authority and insurance in FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance search; general freight needs at least $750,000 of liability cover (49 CFR 387.9).
3. Ask who pays the congestion toll and how the carrier plans routes around the October 2026 changes.
4. For a move, confirm the mover's NYSDOT household goods authority before booking.

Selling to city carriers

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

Five Borough Routes (5broutes.example) sells truck-legal routing that flags restricted streets and toll-zone entries. In the register, 618 for-hire carriers in the five boroughs report 5 to 50 power units: enough trucks for a routing mistake to repeat every day. The October route changes give a timely reason to write. At a 6% reply rate, 618 carriers give about 37 conversations; if one in four starts a trial, 9 fleets. Bebop can build that carrier list from a sentence and research each fleet first. For reaching the dispatcher or owner, see how to find decision makers.

Subject: The 4 October truck route changes

Hi [first name],

NYC DOT's truck route changes took effect on 4 October, with changes in all five boroughs, and the new map won't be out until 2027.

Our routing shows your drivers the current legal routes, flags every Congestion Relief Zone entry and logs the toll by job, so you can bill it back.

Worth a 15-minute look on [day] with your [number] trucks in mind?

[Your name]

New York sources

Next step: across the Hudson, see the report on trucking companies in New Jersey.