Free tool, seven public snapshots
Compare states side by side: fuel, weather, carriers and border
Choose two to four states. The table lines them up on diesel price and how much it swings, weather normals for a month or the whole year, how long storms last, how many truck carriers and owner-operator type businesses the Census counts, FMCSA rule counts and border or port flags. Each row says which side counts as better, and the best and worst are marked. Print it or share the link.
Read this first
This is history and averages from public files, not a forecast and not advice on where to run. Best and worst only rank the numbers inside one row, in the direction the row states; a state can be best on fuel and worst on weather. There is no total score. Weather is a 1991 to 2020 normal at one airport station per state. Fuel is a regional weekly average, not your card price. Rule counts are national. Nothing here is legal advice. No number on this page is typed in by us or by you: there is no example data, only the snapshots. Method and limits: how the snapshots are joined.
What these numbers mean
- Diesel: where the latest price sits, the 52-week high, and how much a normal week moves it. Lower is marked best because a lower price and a calmer week are easier to plan around.
- Weather: days a month or a year that are usually freezing, hot, snowy or wet near the state's hub city. Fewer days is marked best as less exposure. It is a normal, not a forecast.
- Storms: how long National Weather Service episodes lasted in the state. Shorter is marked best.
- Carriers and owner-operator type businesses: counts and shares. Neither a bigger nor a smaller number is better, so only the highest and lowest are tagged.
What to do with it
- Pick the two or three states you actually run in or are thinking about and read the rows that matter to your trucks.
- Set the month you will haul and compare the weather and storm rows, not just the fuel.
- If a row shows no data, the snapshot has none for that state: do not read it as zero.
- For one origin and one destination with a trip cost, use the lane briefing.
Questions
Where do the numbers come from?
From seven snapshots held on this site: EIA weekly diesel, NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals, NOAA Storm Events 2021 to 2025, Census County Business Patterns and Nonemployer Statistics, BTS border crossings, Census imports by port and the Federal Register. Every block names its source and the date its data runs to, and the full list with retrieval times is at the bottom of the page.
How are best and worst decided?
Row by row. Each row states its own direction. For diesel, weather and storm length, lower is marked best and higher is marked worst. For counts and shares there is no better side, so the highest and the lowest are only tagged. Ties share the mark, and a row where every state has the same number, or has fewer than two numbers, is not marked. We do not add rows up into a score.
Why do some states show the same diesel price?
EIA publishes retail diesel for price areas, such as the Gulf Coast or the Midwest, and for California alone. States in one area share one line, so they tie. A state price is not in the data.
Are nonemployer businesses the same as owner-operators?
No. Census counts truck businesses with no paid employees. Most owner-operators fall in that group, but so do other self-employed truckers, and an owner-operator who pays employees does not. Use it as a rough size marker.
Why are the rule counts the same for every state?
We count Federal Register documents from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the 365 days before the snapshot was retrieved. They apply nationwide, and the snapshot holds no count by state, so the row is shown but never marked.
What is in the share link?
The states, the month and the storm type, in the part of the address after the # sign. That part stays in your browser and is not sent to the server when you open the page. Anyone with the link sees the same comparison.
Sources and data dates
Related tools and guides
- Lane briefing: two states, one month, a trip cost and a printable page
- How the snapshots are joined: sources, formulas and limits
- Trucking by state: employers, nonemployer firms and payroll
- Storm episode length: all states and types
- Corridor weather planner: snow, freeze and heat by month
- Border crossings: truck volumes by port
- FMCSA rule timeline: rules by month
- State-to-state lane cost: break-even rate per loaded mile
See what your last 20 loads show.
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