Official data, explained
How to read a USDOT record
Anyone can look up a carrier by its USDOT number. The record is a set of self-reported facts plus a few outcomes. Of 2,223,415 active U.S. records, 46% have not been updated in two years, only 2.3% carry a safety rating, and 186,198 are fleets of 5 to 15 trucks. This page walks through each field, what it can and cannot tell you, and how the small-fleet middle looks in the open data.
SnapshotFMCSA Company Census (aggregates)Data period: census file as of Oct 9, 2026Retrieved Oct 9, 2026, 11:04 UTCretrieved Oct 9, 2026
SnapshotFMCSA SMS (aggregates)Data period: SMS file as of Sep 13, 2026, 24-month windowRetrieved Oct 9, 2026, 09:59 UTCretrieved Oct 9, 2026
No carrier is named here
These are national counts. To check one carrier, use the FMCSA lookup tools and compare what you find with this page. We do not rank or score any named carrier. The FMCSA website itself returns an access error to our server, so the field descriptions below are from the structure of the open census file, not from screenshots of the lookup site.
Who is in the file
Active U.S. carriers by number of trucks reported. Most are one-truck operations.
Counts from data/fmcsa_census_state.json: status active, U.S. address, grouped by reported power units. Records with 0 or blank power units are in no band (234,195).
Field by field
What each part of the record means, what to do with it, and when it misleads. The last column is the national count behind it.
| Field | What it is | How to use it | When it misleads | National count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USDOT number and legal name | The registration ID and the name filed on it. | Match the name and number to the paperwork on the rate confirmation. | A DBA or a new entity can sit on an old number, and names are self-reported. | 2,223,415 active U.S. records. 50% of all USDOT numbers ever issued in the file are inactive. |
| Status | Active or inactive on the census. | Anything other than active is a stop. | Active on the census is not the same as having operating authority. | 2,245,160 active, 2,268,073 inactive, 1,324 pending (all countries). |
| Operating authority (MC number) | A docket number for carriers who haul regulated freight for others. | If you are hiring someone to haul for you, check that the authority is active. | Private fleets and some for-hire carriers have no MC number. Authority status is a separate FMCSA record. | 650,643 active records have an MC docket marked active (29% of active). |
| Operation type | A = interstate, B = intrastate hazmat, C = intrastate non-hazmat. | Interstate carriers are subject to federal rules everywhere. Intrastate carriers follow state rules. | A carrier can run across state lines and still be filed as intrastate. | A: 688,078, C: 1,529,477, B: 783, blank: 5,077 active. |
| Power units and drivers | How many trucks and drivers the carrier says it has. | Compare with what you see: a record of 1 truck cannot move a fleet's load volume. | Self-reported, can be years old. | Size bands, active: 1 truck 1,178,221, 2 to 4 560,407, 5 to 15 186,198, 16 to 50 45,964, 51+ 18,429. 234,195 active records show 0 or blank. |
| MCS-150 date (last update) | When the carrier last filed its biennial update. | Carriers must update every 24 months (49 CFR 390.201(d), as of Oct 1, 2026). An old date means stale mileage, fleet size and address. | A fresh date does not mean the data are true; a stale date does not mean a bad carrier. | 1,021,328 of 2,223,415 active records (46%) have a date before Oct 9, 2024. |
| Hazmat flag | Whether the carrier hauls hazardous materials. | Confirm it matches the cargo you are tendering. | Hazmat authority has extra requirements; the flag alone does not show compliance. | 151,281 active records flagged Y. |
| Safety rating | The result of a compliance review: Satisfactory, Conditional or Unsatisfactory. Most carriers have none. | A Conditional or Unsatisfactory rating is a serious flag. | No rating is the normal state and does not mean good or bad. | Rated: Satisfactory 40,238, Conditional 11,039, Unsatisfactory 769. 2.3% of active records are rated. |
| Inspections and out-of-service (OOS) rates | Roadside inspections over 24 months and how many ended with the truck or driver put out of service. | Compare the rate with similar-size fleets, not with the whole industry. Calculate it yourself; see below. | Few inspections make a rate swing on one event. Inspections are targeted, not random. | Among 28,900 carriers with 5 to 15 trucks and 5+ inspections: median vehicle OOS rate 22%, middle half 11% to 38%. |
| Violations by BASIC category | Counts of violations grouped into Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances and Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance. | Look at which categories repeat, not at one violation. | Property carriers are not given public percentiles in the open file, so we cannot rank any carrier here. | Carriers with any vehicle-maintenance violation: 28,017 of 28,900 in that small-fleet group. |
Where a normal small-fleet out-of-service rate sits
Share of 5-to-15-truck carriers by their vehicle out-of-service rate over 24 months.
28,900 active carriers, 5 to 15 trucks, 5 or more vehicle inspections. Median 21.7%, 10th percentile 0%, 90th 52%. Same file as carrier safety.
What this number means
- Self-reported fields age. A carrier fills in trucks, drivers and mileage when it files, and then they sit.
- Most carriers have no safety rating. Absence of a rating is not information about quality.
- Out-of-service rates need a context. The same rate means different things at 6 inspections and at 60, and for a fleet of 5 trucks versus 500.
- A clean record is not proof of a good carrier, and a few violations are not proof of a bad one.
What to do about it
- Check status, authority and the update date first. Three fields, thirty seconds.
- Calculate the out-of-service rate yourself from the inspection counts and compare it with the table of fleets of similar size.
- Ask for the current certificate of insurance from the carrier directly, and ask what changed since the last update.
- Keep a note of the date and what you saw. Records change.
Check the record in front of you
Type what you see on the record. This runs in your browser and sends nothing.
Vehicle out-of-service rate
enter inspections
- Where that sits among 5-to-15-truck fleets
- Range given few inspections (95%)
- Driver out-of-service rate
- Where that sits
- Update age
- Trucks versus drivers
Formula: out-of-service inspections divided by inspections. The comparison uses the cumulative distribution of the 5-to-15-truck group in the open SMS file. The range is a Wilson 95% interval. The example numbers are invented placeholders. Replace them with yours.
Where the numbers come from
See what your last 20 loads show.
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