Census data, computed here
What trucks haul: tons, value and distance by commodity
The Commodity Flow Survey is the Census Bureau's five-yearly count of what moves in the U.S., how far and in what. We cut the 2022 results to the truck mode: which commodity groups use trucks most, how much each ton is worth, and how far it goes. A calculator turns it into the value of one load against your cargo limit.
Survey year 2022Census Bureau Commodity Flow Survey 2022, United StatesShipments in 2022, released 2025Retrieved Oct 10, 2026, 06:21 UTCretrieved Oct 10, 2026
Read this first
The CFS is a sample survey of shipments from business establishments, not a count of all freight. Tons and values carry sampling error: the page leaves out commodity groups where it is above 15%. Value per ton is a group average, not a price for your load. It describes 2022 and says nothing about rates, demand or any lane.
Price the load you haul
Pick the commodity group, the distance and your payload. The chart shows how far that commodity travels by truck.
All commodities: how far truck tons travel
Share of truck tons by distance shipped, in percent.
What a load of it is worth
Value of one load at the average price per ton
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- Average value per ton, truck
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- Your cargo limit covers
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- Load as a share of the limit
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- Payload at which this commodity hits the limit
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- Truck tons that move in your distance band
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- Median distance band for this group
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Pre-filled values are Example data. Replace them with your own.
Pick the freight.
Formula: dollars per ton = value in millions x 1,000 / tons in thousands (CFS value is $ millions, tons are thousands). Load value = payload tons x dollars per ton, rounded to whole dollars. Payload at the limit = limit / dollars per ton. Nothing you type leaves this page.
The 12 biggest truck commodities
Millions of tons moved by truck in 2022.
All 30 commodity groups
Click a heading to sort. Tons in millions, value in billions of dollars. Distance columns are shares of the truck tons of that group.
| Commodity group | Truck tons (millions) | Truck share of tons | Truck value | Value per ton | Under 100 miles | 500 miles or more | Median distance band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agricultural products | 172.3 | 66.2% | $215.1 B | $1,248 | 67.5% | 11.7% | 50 to 99 |
| Alcoholic beverages | 117.1 | 90.5% | $259.3 B | $2,214 | 63.8% | 10.8% | Under 50 mi |
| Animal feed, eggs, honey, and other products of animal origin | 249.4 | 74.3% | $148.3 B | $595 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Articles of base metal | 83.8 | 83.4% | $373.9 B | $4,464 | 38.9% | 26.2% | 100 to 249 |
| Base metal in primary or semi-finished forms and in finished basic shapes | 228.8 | 78.4% | $527.0 B | $2,304 | 44.6% | 14.6% | 100 to 249 |
| Basic chemicals | 227.4 | 46.4% | $192.1 B | $845 | 66.0% | 10.6% | Under 50 mi |
| Cereal grains | 233.9 | 47.6% | $64.1 B | $274 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Electronic and other electrical equipment and components, and office equipment | 83.1 | 84.0% | $1,020.5 B | $12,285 | 44.8% | 33.4% | 100 to 249 |
| Fertilizers | 89.0 | 67.9% | $61.8 B | $694 | 74.0% | 5.6% | Under 50 mi |
| Fuel oils | 340.0 | 50.5% | $318.4 B | $936 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Furniture, mattresses and mattress supports, lamps, lighting fittings, and illuminated signs | 26.3 | 85.6% | $184.0 B | $7,002 | 33.6% | 32.3% | 100 to 249 |
| Gasoline and aviation turbine fuel | 583.5 | 56.3% | $501.5 B | $859 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Gravel and crushed stone | 1,437.7 | 75.2% | $24.7 B | $17 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Machinery | 80.3 | 89.1% | $755.9 B | $9,409 | 40.9% | 28.4% | 100 to 249 |
| Meat, poultry, fish, seafood, and their preparations | 106.5 | 88.8% | $465.0 B | $4,365 | 41.4% | 25.4% | 100 to 249 |
| Milled grain products and preparations, and bakery products | 91.6 | 86.7% | $158.4 B | $1,729 | 52.6% | 20.0% | 50 to 99 |
| Miscellaneous manufactured products | 77.1 | 67.2% | $418.2 B | $5,427 | 40.0% | 24.1% | 100 to 249 |
| Mixed freight | 421.1 | 97.0% | $1,632.1 B | $3,876 | 61.3% | 6.2% | 50 to 99 |
| Motorized and other vehicles | 163.8 | 82.2% | $1,040.0 B | $6,349 | 47.6% | 19.6% | 100 to 249 |
| Natural sands | 311.7 | 68.5% | $5.8 B | $18 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Other non-metallic minerals, not elsewhere classified | 70.2 | 68.8% | $14.4 B | $206 | 56.3% | 11.8% | 50 to 99 |
| Paper or paperboard articles | 84.8 | 79.7% | $178.8 B | $2,107 | 53.3% | 17.2% | 50 to 99 |
| Pharmaceutical products | 21.7 | 65.0% | $1,053.9 B | $48,647 | 36.2% | 34.1% | 100 to 249 |
| Plastics and rubber | 152.0 | 63.4% | $616.9 B | $4,058 | 39.0% | 28.8% | 100 to 249 |
| Precision instruments and apparatus | 8.4 | 63.5% | $193.5 B | $23,060 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Printed products | 22.5 | 82.7% | $96.0 B | $4,264 | 33.1% | 35.8% | 250 to 499 |
| Pulp, newsprint, paper, and paperboard | 70.5 | 64.0% | $77.7 B | $1,103 | 29.6% | 34.3% | 250 to 499 |
| Textiles, leather, and articles of textiles or leather | 34.1 | 73.0% | $377.9 B | $11,067 | 34.6% | 35.9% | 250 to 499 |
| Waste and scrap | 136.8 | 76.8% | $77.4 B | $566 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Wood products | 271.6 | 86.2% | $339.5 B | $1,250 | 58.9% | 9.4% | 50 to 99 |
Source: Census Bureau Commodity Flow Survey 2022, retrieved Oct 10, 2026. Value per ton = value / tons. Distance shares use the nine published distance bands of the truck mode; "n/a" where any band is withheld. Truck mode includes for-hire, company-owned and customer pick-up.
What this number means
- Most truck tons move short distances: distance is not where the tons are.
- Value per ton varies by orders of magnitude, so the same truckload can be a few thousand dollars of cargo or a few million.
- Cargo limits are written per vehicle or per load: a high-value group needs a deliberate check of the limit.
What to do about it
- Find your commodity group, then compare one average load with the limit on your policy.
- If the load can exceed the limit, ask the broker for the declared value before pickup.
- Keep the rate confirmation and the bill of lading with the declared value: they are your evidence in a claim.
Questions
What is the Commodity Flow Survey?
A survey run every five years by the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It samples shipments from business establishments and reports tons, value and distance by commodity and mode. The 2022 results were released in 2025.
Is value per ton the same as the value of my load?
No. It is the average for that commodity group across all truck shipments in the survey. One load of electronics can be worth many times the average of its group. Use it as a scale, then use your own paperwork.
Why do some commodities have "n/a" for distance?
Census withholds or flags some distance cells when the sample is too thin. We only show shares when every distance band for the commodity is published without a flag. Commodities with a sampling error above 15% on tons or value are left out.
Does "truck" include private fleets?
Yes. The truck mode in the survey covers for-hire trucks, company-owned trucks and customer pick-up. A small carrier usually works the for-hire part, which is not separated here.
How old is this?
The survey year is 2022, retrieved from the Census API on Oct 10, 2026. It is a five-year survey, so it moves slowly and cannot show the last two years.
Related guides and tools
- Cargo claim deadlines: what to file and when
- Reefer claims: temperature and load claims
- Freight corridors: where freight moves between states
- Lane true cost: what one lane really costs
- Port import inflow: ports by import tonnage
- All intelligence pages: official data in plain English
See what your last 20 loads show.
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