What would be the best city or state to live in as a truck driver?

Well if ya move to Columbus I can tell ya where to get great anchovy pizza. I'm broke down in Columbus right now...every freakin' time I come here I break down. I stay at the Microtel on Hilliard-Rome and Minelli's Pizza is right across the street. Mmmm

 

anchovy ... OMG ... I'd sooner eat albatross

 

I've lived all over the country and it's really hard to find the best place. Not only do you have to find a place that has good work but you'll need to find a place you can live in too. Florida is where I first started and I too think it's one of the not so good places to go. The main item you'll need to look at is if the wages match the cost of living. IOW's is the low pay going to match the low cost of living?

I have found that MD and some of the northeast states pay low and have high cost of living. I believe it's because the people in that area figure everyone works in the big city like Wash. D.C. and the rent and houses should reflect that. So if you're pulling for a company outside the city and they don't pay so good your living costs will eat all your income.

I was lucky when I went to Las Vegas NV years ago. My company was on a pay scale from Los Angeles and Vegas was really cheap to live there. Plus no income tax. Since then the cost of living has gone up and now it's hard to make ends meat there.

So you'll need to look at the whole picture on where you'll want to settle. The mid-west like St Louis makes sense. I have a friend there and the cost of living is decent so if the job pays ok you'd be ahead of the game. Just look at everything before you make your choice. And good luck.

 

I live just south of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and there are terminals for most of the big ltl companies as well as terminals for the major truck load guys. Just a thought

 

not michigan...........texas is the best

 

Hmmmm...albatross pizza? If Mikey eats it...it must be good!

 

TN...Memphis, or West Memphis, AR. Craphole but there are jobs there

 

Pick a city that has the most interstate highways going through it and you will have more choices.When I drove for Celadon 24 years ago they were in Laredo,Tx.then they moved to Indianapolis,In.central location with four interstates passing through.Big cities or big because of access to them.

 

Philadelphia is not so good. I should know.

It's a bad place to live as a trucker if for no other reason than that the taxes are atrocious. You pay 4% of gross to the city just for living here, regardless of your income level, and on top of the outrageous property taxes.

Oh, and most OTR companies don't withhold Philly taxes, so you have to save it up and pay it yourself -- not a big deal in the grand scheme, but all in all it's a hoop I'd rather not have to jump through, considering all the others.

It's not the worst trucking location in the world, but there are certainly better. You're on I-95, so that's good, but the only east-west interstate around these parts is 76, which is a toll road once you get a few miles outside the city -- and your company may or may not like that. And delivering/picking up in the city can be a real pain.

End ranting transmission.

 

I'm biased but I say middle TN. You've got major lanes to the northeast and southeast many of them coverging in Nashville. I-65and I-55 to Chicago and the midwest. I-75 to FL. I-40 from east to west coast. Lots of freight originating from and too or simply rolling through here. Out in west TN Memphis is also known as "the distribution center of America" and any middle TN company worth it's weight in salt has freight that picksup and delivers to the Memphis area. There's a really good mix of opportunity in middle TN for long haul, regional, or local whatever suits your wants. Sales tax is high 9.25 and up (depending on where you live) but there's no state income tax and the cost of living is low.