Oregon Trucking Safety and Insurance Report 2026
Oregon is a small part of the national trucking picture, and in a few ways an unusual one. Its FMCSA records show who is registered there, how big the fleets are, what they haul, and how roadside inspections went over the last 12 months. This report is based on our review of those public records and is not an official publication. Every figure comes from queries we ran on October 18, 2026, and the exact SQL is in the page source.
Oregon has 28,895 active motor carriers, about 1.3% of the 2,241,932 in the national files. Its fleets lean toward logs, grain, livestock and produce. Vehicle out-of-service findings run a little above the national rate. Driver out-of-service findings run nearly three times the national rate, and most of that gap comes from one type of inspection.
Who is running trucks in Oregon
We counted active carriers whose physical address is in Oregon (census status "A"). The national baseline uses the same filter without the state. Percentages are shares of each total, so the four fleet-size rows add up to a little under 100%: some census records report zero or blank power units.
| Power units | Oregon | Share of Oregon | National share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 truck | 15,767 | 54.6% | 52.8% |
| 2 to 5 | 8,459 | 29.3% | 27.6% |
| 6 to 20 | 2,207 | 7.6% | 6.9% |
| 21 or more | 589 | 2.0% | 2.2% |
| All active | 28,895 | 100% | 100% |
Oregon looks like most of the country at the small end: more than half of its active motor carriers run one power unit, and fewer than one in ten run more than five. Compared with the national files, the mix tilts slightly toward fleets of 2 to 5 trucks. At that size one claim or one bad inspection season can change how markets see a file, so it pays to have an agent review the file before it is quoted.
The largest concentrations by city are Portland (2,970 active motor carriers), Salem (1,171), Eugene (768), Bend (639), Roseburg (545) and Hillsboro (496). Roseburg and Bend sit well away from the Portland metro, which fits the timber and agricultural work described below.
The census also shows 1,534 active Oregon motor carriers whose record was added in the last 12 months, which is 5.3% of the Oregon total. Nationally the figure is 167,168, or 7.5%. A census record can be added for reasons other than a brand-new authority, so read this as a rough sign of new entrants and not an exact count. If you are starting out, our Oregon trucking insurance guide covers the requirements in more detail.
What Oregon carriers say they haul
Carriers tick the cargo classes they carry on their MCS-150 registration, and one carrier can tick several. The shares below are the portion of active motor carriers in each area that ticked the class.
| Cargo class | Oregon | National |
|---|---|---|
| General freight | 41.3% | 51.0% |
| Building materials | 30.3% | 29.7% |
| Machinery and large objects | 22.4% | 15.7% |
| Grain, feed and hay | 21.5% | 10.6% |
| Logs, poles, beams and lumber | 19.4% | 11.7% |
| Fresh produce | 10.1% | 6.9% |
| Livestock | 9.6% | 3.6% |
| Dry bulk | 7.9% | 6.7% |
| Motor vehicles | 7.3% | 9.5% |
| Refrigerated food | 5.6% | 6.3% |
| Intermodal containers | 3.1% | 3.7% |
| Chemicals | 1.5% | 1.9% |
| Oilfield equipment | 1.0% | 2.3% |
Four classes stand out. Grain, feed and hay is ticked by 21.5% of Oregon carriers against 10.6% nationally. Logs and lumber sit at 19.4% against 11.7%. Livestock is 9.6% against 3.6%. Fresh produce is 10.1% against 6.9%. General freight goes the other way, at 41.3% against 51.0% nationally.
Log and lumber hauling, livestock and loose agricultural loads are not priced like a dry van of boxed freight, and some markets decline or restrict them. Reefer loads add spoilage questions. If your cargo is on that list, say so at the start and have the file reviewed with that in mind. Our guides on flatbed insurance and small fleet insurance cover the pieces that carry over.
Roadside inspections and out-of-service findings
For inspections we looked at every record dated October 18, 2025 through October 18, 2026 (the latest record in the files is October 15, 2026). An inspection counts as an out-of-service inspection when it recorded at least one vehicle or driver out-of-service condition. We counted inspections performed in Oregon, whatever the carrier's home state.
| Measure | Oregon | National |
|---|---|---|
| Inspections, 12 months | 20,508 | 2,890,549 |
| Inspections with a vehicle out-of-service condition | 3,560 (17.4%) | 451,347 (15.6%) |
| Inspections with a driver out-of-service condition | 3,707 (18.1%) | 192,495 (6.7%) |
The vehicle rate is within two points of the national rate. The driver rate is far higher, 18.1% against 6.7%, so we broke it down by inspection level.
| Inspection level | Oregon inspections | Oregon driver out-of-service | National driver out-of-service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 3 (driver and paperwork) | 9,597 | 26.6% | 6.7% |
| Level 2 (walk-around) | 5,944 | 12.0% | 7.4% |
| Level 1 (full) | 4,576 | 9.5% | 6.3% |
Level 3 inspections make up 47% of Oregon's total in the files, against 35% nationally, and about one in four of them found a driver out-of-service condition. Even the full Level 1 inspections in Oregon show a driver rate (9.5%) above the national Level 1 figure (6.3%). The records do not say why, and we have not found a source that does. An Oregon roadside stop is more likely than the national average to end with a driver put out of service, and Oregon uses a different mix of inspection types than the rest of the country.
Vehicle findings follow a different pattern. Level 2 inspections in Oregon found a vehicle out-of-service condition 39.6% of the time against 23.8% nationally, while Level 1 inspections were about even, at 24.3% against 25.2%.
What this means for your insurance file
Insurance markets judge your own DOT record, but the state numbers still tell you where to look. If you run Oregon roads, you are driving where driver out-of-service findings are common. Driver paperwork (logs, medical card, license class, endorsements) is the easiest thing to put right before a stop happens.
Cargo decides which markets will look at you. Timber, livestock, grain and produce haulers make up a larger share of Oregon's carriers than the country's, so tell the agent your commodity and radius up front. And if a violation on your record is wrong, raise it before the application goes out. Disputing it after a decline is harder. Our CSA score guide explains how the score reaches your file.
When a carrier running Oregon freight sends us a file, the DOT record comes first: inspections, out-of-service history, authority status and the safety measures that come with it. Then we go through the loss history and the cargo. That review happens before any market sees the application, so the story on the page matches the story in the record. If a claim is open, we also look at how it is being handled, because claims advocacy is something carriers tell us they wish they had earlier.
What these numbers can and cannot tell you
- Census counts are registrations. A carrier can stay active in the census while running few or no loads.
- The census counts carriers by home address, while the inspection numbers count stops inside Oregon, including out-of-state trucks passing through.
- The prior-revocation flag shows 0 Oregon carriers and 19 nationally. It is filled in for only a small share of records, so we read nothing into the Oregon zero.
- The inspection comparison covers one 12-month window. A different window could shift the rates.
- FMCSA updates the files daily, so a rerun will not match exactly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Talk to an Agent
American Trucking Insurance Services helps Oregon carriers find coverage. Call (762) 201-2464 or request a quote online →