Market Data

Truck Tonnage by the Numbers: Peaks, Troughs and Where 117.70 Ranks

A ranked look at the ATA index, its base year, its shocks, and where 117.70 sits against the archived record, so you can see at a glance whether today's freight demand is strong by historical standards.

Against its 2015=100 history, the Truck Tonnage Index's current reading of 117.70 as of Apr 2026 sits well above the base year and at the 100th percentile of the range archived on this site, placing today's freight tonnage among the stronger readings in the recent record. The series is climbing and up about 3.4% from a year ago, per ATA data published through FRED.

The marks that matter in the index's history

The index's modern history has three reference points. The 2015 base year, set to 100, anchors every reading that follows. The 2018 freight boom pushed the index to what were then record highs, as tax-cut-fueled industrial demand met a driver shortage, the tightest trucking market of its era. And the pandemic whipsaw delivered both extremes in sequence: a collapse in April 2020 as the economy shut, then a restocking surge that drove tonnage to fresh records, followed by the 2022-2023 freight recession that ground volumes back down while carriers exited the market. Every reading since is read against those episodes, they define what "strong" and "weak" mean on this scale.

Where the current print ranks

Within the archived window, the index has run from 112.10 in Oct 2025 to 117.70 in Apr 2026. Today's 117.70 sits 5.6 points, 5.0%, above that low, and 0.0 points off the high, which is what the 100th-percentile ranking means in plain terms. Combined with a rising trend and a reading up about 3.4% from a year ago, the ranking gives a one-glance answer to the question the chart is usually asked: is freight demand strong right now by the standards of its own record? The percentile is the answer, updated with every data refresh.

Two caveats keep the ranking honest. The percentile here is computed against the window archived on this site, which is deliberately recent, it answers "strong versus the past year," not "strong versus 2018." A reading can rank high in a weak stretch or low in a boom, so pair the percentile with the year-over-year figure, which reaches back a full twelve months by construction. And remember that tonnage is a volume measure: carriers can be hauling record freight at unprofitable rates, as the post-pandemic shakeout demonstrated. For a shipper the distinction is friendly, high tonnage with cheap rates is the best of both worlds while it lasts, but it never lasts, because capacity exits until price recovers. The ranking tells you where you are; the rate data tells you how long you get to stay there.

ATA Truck Tonnage Index, Apr 2026 (2015=100): 117.70. Archived low 112.10 (Oct 2025), archived high 117.70 (Apr 2026), the current print ranks at the 100th percentile of that span.

A freight index is only as useful as the record behind it. The percentile, not the print, is what tells you whether today is actually strong.

How planners should use the ranking

The percentile converts a chart into a policy. Readings in the upper quartile of the record have historically meant tight capacity, carrier pricing power and a case for locking contract rates and securing dock labor early; lower-quartile readings have meant loose capacity, shipper leverage and room to run shorter commitments. The middle is where discipline matters most, because both narratives sound plausible. Anchor the freight line of your S&OP review to two numbers from this page, the current reading, 117.70, and its 100th-percentile rank, and let the tender-rejection and spot-rate data you see in your own network confirm or veto what the national index suggests.

Use the truckload utilization calculator to find out how much of the capacity you are already paying for actually ships freight. Squeeze more from each truck

Published 2026-07-13.