Non-College Degree Careers In Truck Driving And Pilot Driving

For any Idahoan looking to make a career change in the new year, two of the top five highest-paying gigs in the state are available to those who possess a driver’s license rather than a college degree.

I have a longtime neighbor who recently changed careers in his mid-thirties and is the happiest I’ve ever seen him. He went from working in a restaurant to driving a truck and is crushing it. A college degree isn’t necessary for those in the industry who don’t mind spending time alone and on the road three weeks out of the month, and the paychecks can be enormous depending on the company that hires you.

High-paying jobs that require driving a truck are not limited solely to moving freight. The annual salary for a regional truck driver in the United States is $75,000, according to ZipRecruiter (via cloudtrucks.com). Oversized haulers and team truck drivers can earn well over $100,000 a year.

That’s over $7,000 per month on the lower end of that salary range, and you don’t have to worry about Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking your job from you anytime soon.

Another type of driving position that pays very well involves escorting other truckers safely from one destination to the other, or pilot drivers as they are referred to. ZipRecruiter lists the annual average salary for people who hold these driving positions in the Gem State as between $94,000 and $145,000. That’s over $7,000 per month on the lower end of that salary range, and you don’t have to worry about Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking your job from you anytime soon.

My neighbor isn’t quite making over $90,000 annually yet, but should be by 2025 if he stays the course. That’s life-changing money for those who don’t mind travel, and many companies offer great benefits to go along with all that time away from home.