Transportation Dispatcher Salary Expectations by Job Level

Transportation dispatchers help our modern world function. They get food into supermarkets, medicine to hospitals and children to school. Plus, the job can prove interesting for people who like problem-solving and tackling organizational challenges.

If you’re curious about becoming a transportation dispatcher, keep reading. We’ve got all the information you need to know about salaries, day-to-day responsibilities and more.

What Does a Transportation Dispatcher Do?

Transportation dispatchers schedule transportation and handle any problems that occur. Many transportation dispatchers work as trucking dispatchers, ensuring the delivery of goods across the US (or even internationally). Others work with emergency and rescue services, buses, trains, boats and even airlines.

On a day-to-day level, a transportation dispatcher will:

• Schedule routes and drivers, including breaks, gas refills and overnight stays
• Stay in communication with the drivers and, if relevant, the clients
• Monitor potential issues, such as bad weather or roadworks
• Find solutions to unexpected problems, such as delays caused by breakdowns
• Handle customs or port clearance
• Log data and compile reports on everything from journey times to cost-effectiveness
• Ensure compliance at all stages, for example, by scheduling routes so that rest mandates are met

This means a transportation dispatcher needs strong organizational, communication and problem-solving skills, as well as the ability to think clearly under pressure.

What is the Typical Transportation Dispatcher Salary?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average wage for a transportation dispatcher (excluding emergency services) across the US is $46,650 a year or $22.43 an hour.

The salary can, however, vary significantly depending on where you live and work. For example, transportation dispatchers in the district of Columbia make $66,200 a year. In the Kansas non-metropolitan area, meanwhile, this falls to just $39,460.

Bear in mind that the BLS’ data is from May 2021. For more recent average salaries, we can look at self-reported online data. It tends to be less accurate because it’s relying on transportation dispatchers choosing to share salary information. However, it is also regularly updated.

Payscale, for example, reports an average annual trucking dispatcher salary of $49,957, with some transportation dispatchers earning as much as $65,000 and others as little as $29,000. Indeed calculates an even higher annual salary of $60,626 or $17.20 an hour.

As a transportation dispatcher, attractive salaries are within reach. However, it’s important to remember that not everyone will earn that much.

Average Transportation Dispatcher Salaries by Job Sector and Level

The sector you work in, as well as your level of seniority, will shape your salary. According to the BLS, the top-paying transportation dispatcher sectors include:

• Scheduled air transportation: $84,700
• Natural gas distribution: $84,260
• Aerospace product and parts manufacturing: $80,750
• Rail transportation: $73,030

On the other end of the scale, taxi and limousine dispatchers earn on average just $34,100 a year. Urban transit dispatchers make $40,680, while other transit and ground passenger transportation dispatchers earn $36,560.

This doesn’t mean being a taxi or urban transit dispatcher is a worse career than scheduled air transportation dispatchment or rail transportation. Every sector comes with its own pros and cons, from working hours and location to training and responsibility levels. However, if a high salary is important to you, pick carefully.

There is also room for salary growth as your career progresses. A new recruit with limited experience should expect to earn a figure on the lower end of the scales we’ve mentioned. However, if you become a senior transportation dispatcher, you would expect to earn significantly more.

In fact, Comparably analyzed self-reported data to discover that while the median annual wage was $42,806, higher-paid transportation dispatchers earned over $100,000. The highest 14% were paid over $200,000 a year.

And if you are promoted to, for example, a Terminal Manager, then you can also expect your salary to improve. Indeed calculates that the average Terminal Manager earns $66,680 a year, with certain companies paying six-figure salaries on average.

Transportation dispatcher experience could also be a stepping-stone to well-paid positions such as a Logistics Manager, Supply Chain Manager, Operations Manager and eventually even Director of Logistics. According to Glassdoor, the average Director of Logistics salary is $114,786.

What Benefits do Transportation Dispatchers Typically Receive?

A generous benefits package can often be more attractive than a pay rise. According to Indeed, the most common benefits transportation dispatchers receive include 401(k) matching, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance, paid vacations and sick days, and dental and health insurance.

Current transportation dispatcher job listings also mention retirement savings plans, remote work and paid training.

On the other hand, many of these job listings require flexible working, overtime and night shifts. If work-life balance is important to you or you can’t work evenings, you may have to carefully search for the right job.

How to Become a Transportation Dispatcher

There is no formal career path or required qualifications for becoming a transportation dispatcher. Entry-level job listings typically ask for just a high school diploma or GED certificate and computer literacy.

That said, there are things you can do to become a more attractive applicant. If you’re applying for a more competitive sector or hoping to progress quickly to a management role, these could improve your prospects. Here are some of the things that employers might look for:

• A degree in logistics, supply chain management or business management
• Experience as a truck driver, train driver, bus driver, pilot or captain, depending on the sector you’re applying for
• Office experience
• Project management experience
• Customer service experience
• Industry-specific knowledge, such as transportation law, import and export regulations or a deeper understanding of specific supply chains

Stand Out From the Crowd with an Eye-Catching Resume

Whether you’re applying for your first transportation dispatcher role or you’re looking for management positions, a well-written resume is the key to receiving a job offer.

Your resume should be custom-tailored to the role and company in question as well as your background. Plus, it needs to be professional and easy to read, by humans and computers alike.

Our transportation dispatcher resume templates will help you achieve this. Whether you want a classic resume or something more minimalist, our resume builder will guide you through selecting the best structure and layout for your experience level. You can also choose from recruiter-approved phrasing or use your own to describe your skills and previous work responsibilities.

All our resume templates are machine-readable, fully customizable and easy to use. You can craft your professional and polished resume in minutes.