California motor carrier statistics
California ranks #1 of the 50 states and DC by active motor carrier registrations, with 328,992 active carriers — 14.9% of the U.S. total. 85,559 of them (26.0%) hold operating authority. Computed from FMCSA's census snapshot of 2026-10-21 13:18 UTC.
Among California's 85,559 authority holders, 49,183 (57.5%) report a single power unit and 3,934 (4.6%) report a fleet of 10 or more. 19,217 (22.5%) last filed an MCS-150 biennial update before October 2024 — below the national 27.0%.
Registration overview
| Measure | California | Share | U.S. share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active registrations | 328,992 | 14.9% of U.S. | rank #1 of 51 |
| With operating authority | 85,559 | 26.0% | 32.3% |
| Hazmat-registered | 9,667 | 2.9% | 6.7% |
“Share” is the measure as a percentage of California's active registrations; “U.S. share” is the same percentage computed nationally, so the two columns are directly comparable.
Operation type
| Operation | Carriers | California | U.S. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interstate | 66,884 | 20.3% | 30.9% |
| Intrastate, hazmat | 5 | 0.00% | 0.01% |
| Intrastate, non-hazmat | 261,228 | 79.4% | 68.8% |
| Not reported | 875 | 0.3% | 0.2% |
Percentages are of active registrations. Interstate (census code A) carriers cross state lines; intrastate carriers operate only within California.
Fleet size
| Power units | Carriers | California | U.S. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 power unit | 49,183 | 57.5% | 49.4% |
| 2–9 power units | 20,080 | 23.5% | 27.1% |
| 10–49 power units | 3,327 | 3.9% | 5.0% |
| 50 or more power units | 607 | 0.7% | 1.3% |
| None reported (0 or blank) | 12,362 | 14.4% | 17.2% |
Percentages are of California's 85,559 active authority holders. Power-unit counts are self-reported on the MCS-150 and are not validated by FMCSA; a small number of records carry implausible values, so treat the top bucket as an upper bound.
MCS-150 filing currency
| Last recorded MCS-150 update | Carriers | California | U.S. |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2024 or later | 60,005 | 70.1% | 64.3% |
| Before October 2024 (over 24 months old) | 19,217 | 22.5% | 27.0% |
| No date recorded in the census | 6,337 | 7.4% | 8.7% |
FMCSA requires a biennial MCS-150 update. The cutoff above is the first day of the month 24 months before this page was rendered. A stale census date is a strong signal but not proof of a missed filing — check a specific USDOT number with the MCS-150 update checker.
Related
States with similar registration counts: Texas (194,125) · Florida (157,129) · New York (129,760) · Georgia (107,953) · Pennsylvania (82,519) · Michigan (78,107)
All 50 states and DC · Look up a carrier by USDOT or MC number · Check a carrier’s MCS-150 filing status
Source: FMCSA Company Census File (az4n-8mr2) on data.transportation.gov, refreshed daily. Figures computed by CarrierStat from the census snapshot dated 2026-10-21 13:18 UTC and aggregated by CarrierStat; FMCSA publishes no state-level rollup. Counts cover records with census status A (active) and a physical address in the 50 states or the District of Columbia; Canadian and Mexican registrants are excluded. Unofficial — verify any individual carrier at FMCSA SAFER.