How much can I save up as a 22 year old trucker if I live on the road?

Until you are 23 you are a little limited in which OTR companies that can hire you, IIRC

How much you can save depends on how much you make minus how much you spend. How much you make depends on your pay rate & your mileage.

Driving a truck you can get "rich" or go broke. I was able to easily save $15k in 1 year on pay of $40k-ish while paying only for groceries & student loans.

 

Depends on your overhead costs now, then not trying to live like a rock star on the road

 

Only you could answer that based on your personal bills. I'm getting into trucking myself mostly for the reason because i can also live in the truck and save most of my money so i can buy a house. I wouldn't able to save hardly anything working a different job and paying rent for an apartment and utilities etc..

I figure my first year pay will be dramatically low like $35,000. After my calculations based on food and cell phone bills on the road i can save 15-20k my first year.

 

That's a wide open question. Let's assume you went OTR with a company like Swift, learned how to run hard and not be a whining dawdler and put in 10,000 miles a month consistently. That would put you in the neighborhood of about $44K gross your first year.

After taxes (and what state will you rent a mailbox in to declare taxes?) you net in the neighborhood of $38,000 take home.

Let's also assume you only have a phone bill, food, and incidentals on the road and can live well on $1,000 a month. That's about $12,000 a year.

$38K minus $12K means you could bank or invest $26K your first year. Of course you have cost of school, etc.

Until you get on the road there are a lot of variables, like are you comfortable living in a truck? Can you take any load, any time, to anywhere...or are you going to turn down loads if they are to difficult locations or in difficult conditions or will cause you to flip your sleep schedule?

Not everyone is cut out for this job. But if you truly dedicate yourself to being the "go to" driver, then even on mega pay you can easily bank at least $2K a month. Increase that figure if you go tanker, Hazmat, or flatbed. Increase it if you get on with a better carrier.

 

No FMCA restrictions on hiring a 21 year old for interstate driving (most states allow intrastate drivers to be 18 or older) but lots of companies require you to be 23 due to their own policies or those imposed by their insurance companies..

 

I live on much much less and i don't drive yet as you know. I spend about $200+ for food, $67 car insurance and $50 for my verizon prepaid phone. I could easily live on $500 a month out on the road. I won't be eating fast food and truck stop food i'll buy stuff at walmart or supermarkets for the week.

 

Jump into a flease purchase and your answer is ....... 0

 

Its not a job, it can be a career or a profession but NOT A JOB because that is what a steering wheel holder thinks it is. however with your desire to go to school to get a degree, I would tell you drop the idea and go to school.