Trucking companies in Tulsa: 384 employers, one big truckload fleet and how to find the rest

This report is for Tulsa-area manufacturers, distributors and energy companies choosing a carrier, drivers comparing local employers, and B2B sellers whose customers are trucking companies, from fuel and parts suppliers to insurers, shops and software vendors. For the statewide picture, see the Oklahoma trucking report.

Tulsa trucking in Census data

US Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, NAICS 484 (Truck Transportation), Tulsa, OK Metro Area (CBSA 46140):

The Census Bureau published employee counts for Rogers, Osage, Okmulgee and Pawnee counties but flagged them as high-noise: the noise it adds to protect confidentiality changed each by 5% or more, so we don't report them. Tulsa County has 58.9% of the metro's establishments. Creek County, west of the city, has a quarter as many but larger ones, 15.8 employees each.

What Tulsa carriers do

Truckload is the core: 171 establishments with 48.2% of the jobs. The 18 less-than-truckload terminals average 38.8 employees and pay the most, $73,813. Specialized long-distance carriers (refrigerated, bulk-liquid, car-hauling and hazardous-material trucking, in NAICS's examples) average 23.2 employees.

The Census Bureau doesn't publish the three largest classes for Tulsa. The 100-or-more band (6) is the published total less the smaller bands, so two establishments have 250 or more employees. In broader bands: 342 have 1 to 19 employees and 36 have 20 to 99. Under five employees: 62.0%.

CBP counts establishments with paid employees, not companies: owner-operators without payroll are left out, and a utility's or energy company's own trucks are counted in that industry, not trucking.

Who's on the federal register

FMCSA's Company Census File (29 October 2026) lists 5,773 active USDOT registrations in the seven metro counties, 15.0 per Census establishment. Without bus operators, 3,301 are for-hire and 2,029 are private fleets only. Of the for-hire carriers, 1,084 run interstate and 2,169 (65.7%) only within Oklahoma. Of those reporting a fleet, 1,836 run one power unit, 986 run 2 to 10, 89 run 11 to 50 and 20 run more than 50 with a driver count to match. Only 42.8% of for-hire records were updated within the 24 months federal rules require (49 CFR 390.19).

The largest active for-hire records in the metro, updated since October 2024, with drivers at least half the power units, leaving out construction-materials fleets:

Melton is more than four times the size of the next carrier. The largest private fleets in the metro file belong to ONE Gas (594 power units and 1,249 drivers), Public Service Company of Oklahoma (409) and American Cementing (358), all at Tulsa addresses. EDGAR shows no listed company in the trucking SIC codes with a Tulsa-area business address.

Oklahoma's license, briefly

For loads that stay in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission requires an intrastate for-hire license of carriers hauling property or passengers for hire, and an intrastate private license of companies hauling their own goods in vehicles over 26,000 pounds. Both need an active USDOT number, insurance on file and a $7 identification stamp per vehicle. The Oklahoma trucking report covers the details.

How to vet a Tulsa carrier

1. Look up the USDOT number in FMCSA's Company Snapshot for operation type, power units, drivers, inspections and crashes.
2. Check the operation type against the load. Two in three Tulsa for-hire carriers are intrastate only, so a load to Arkansas, Kansas or Missouri needs an interstate carrier with authority you can confirm in FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance search.
3. For an in-state load, ask for the OCC license and look for the stamp on the truck.
4. Confirm insurance against the cargo: at least $750,000 for general freight, $1,000,000 for oil and most hazardous materials (49 CFR 387.9).
5. Ask about backup capacity. In a market where one carrier dominates the fleet count and most others run a truck or two, know who covers your lane if your carrier can't.

Prospecting Tulsa trucking companies

For finding the right person at each, see how to find decision makers.

Illustrative example. The supplier, margins and win rate are invented; the carrier count is from FMCSA's October 2026 file.

Green Country Fuel (greencountryfuel.example) delivers diesel to carrier yards overnight so trucks start the day full. It targets for-hire carriers in the seven metro counties with 5 to 50 power units and a current MCS-150: 187 carriers with 2,152 power units. If it wins 10% (19 carriers, about 220 trucks) and each truck burns an assumed 1,000 gallons a month at a 12-cent delivered margin, that's $26,400 a month, or about $317,000 a year. The pitch is driver time: no fuel stops on the clock. Bebop can find carriers like these from a description and research each one first.

Hi [first name], it's [your name] at Green Country Fuel. Quick question and I'll let you go.

How much driver time does [company] lose to fuel stops each week? For a fleet of [number] trucks it's usually more than people think.

We fill your trucks at your yard overnight, on one invoice. Could I come by [day] and look at your yard layout?

Tulsa sources

Next step: see how Tulsa compares with the state's other metro in the report on trucking companies in Oklahoma City.