FMCSA's carrier census lists 2,128 active carriers based in the Laredo area — 1,752 with one to nine trucks, 267 operators running 10 to 49, and 76 with 50 or more — roughly 20,461 power units between them. 1 Every one of them is hiring the same drivers you are.
We're a truck driver recruiting agency, not a lead reseller and not a staffing firm. Our recruiters talk to every driver by phone, screen them against your requirements, and submit ready-to-hire packets. You pay per placed driver — half when the driver starts, half after the first 14 days — and nothing up front. That is the whole model, and it is the same in Laredo as it is in Chicago, where we started.
If your recruiting partner gets paid before a driver ever starts, you didn't buy recruiting. You bought a contact list.
What recruiting in Laredo actually looks like
Laredo is the largest inland port in the United States, and almost every truck in it is doing one thing: moving freight across the World Trade Bridge and back. The local pool is transfer and drayage drivers running the loop between the Mexican side, the bonded yards, and the transloads north of the city — short, repetitive and paid by the move. Long-haul carriers stage here to pull loads north on I-35 to Dallas, San Antonio and the Midwest, and they recruit against the loop for the same drivers.
It is a near-fully for-hire market with almost no private fleets, bilingual by default, and unusually sensitive to what is happening at the bridge on any given week. A carrier that understands the crossing gets drivers here; one that treats it as generic Texas freight does not.
The lanes: I-35 · World Trade Bridge · Colombia Solidarity Bridge · US-83 · US-59.
Laredo is a transfer market. Most drivers run the loop between the Mexican side, the bonded yards and the transloads north of town, paid by the move, and they are bilingual by default. Long-haul carriers stage here to pull freight north on I-35 and recruit against that loop for the same people, which means a regional or OTR offer has to be measured against a predictable, home-every-night day rate rather than against national mileage pay.
We screen for the crossing experience the carrier actually needs — transfer only, or bonded and northbound — and for paperwork the driver holds today, not what they have applied for. A carrier that understands what is happening at the bridge in a given week gets drivers here; one that treats Laredo as generic Texas freight does not.
Where the 10-plus-truck fleets sit, by ZIP: 78045 (254), 78041 (56), 78043 (18), 78040 (8), 78046 (6).
What drivers in Laredo are paid
BLS puts the median annual wage for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in the Laredo, TX metro area at $49,010, with a mean of $53,470 (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025).
Two caveats before you build an offer on it. The figure blends local hourly seats with OTR mileage pay, so it is neither; and it lags the market by up to a year. Treat it as the floor a driver already knows, not the number that makes them switch. The carriers that fill seats here publish the actual pay — by the mile, the hour or the day — and the actual home time. We wrote up the posting mistakes that cost carriers applications if you want the checklist.
- $49,010
- median annual wage, Laredo metro
- $53,470
- mean annual wage, May 2025 (BLS OEWS 53-3032)
How pay-per-driver works for a Laredo carrier
- 01
Intake call
We map your lanes, equipment, pay, home time and hiring requirements for Laredo. If we can't guarantee you enough driver volume, we say so on this call — not three invoices later.
- 02
Screening and interviews by our recruiters
Our recruiters interview every driver by phone and verify CDL, endorsements, experience and work history against your requirements. No raw lists ever reach your desk.
- 03
Submission packets through Onboard
Qualified drivers go to you as complete submission packets through Onboard, our in-house platform. The packet lands in your inbox and you decide from there — no portal to learn. The pipeline is tracked through drug test to hire.
- 04
Placement, arrival and follow-through
You pay per placed driver — half when the driver starts, half after the first 14 days — and we stay involved through arrival and the early weeks. Recruiting for Laredo runs from our Lancaster, TX office, 430 miles away.
We don't need a desk in Laredo to place drivers in Laredo — and we won't put a virtual-office pin on a map to pretend we have one.
The model in full is on Pay Per Driver. The team behind it works from our Lancaster, TX office. Why the first 48 hours decide most hires: speed to hire.
Who this fits in Laredo — and who it doesn't
Fleets of 10 to 49 trucks are our core. The census counts 267 operators of that size in the Laredo area: big enough to have open seats every month, too small to carry a recruiting department. Pay-per-driver gives them one without the payroll.
Fleets of 50 or more — 76 here — use us two ways: as overflow when their own recruiters are behind, or as the whole department for a terminal or a lane they can't staff from headquarters. Either way the fee is the same and the retention terms are the same.
Who we turn down: private fleets that only hire through their own HR, and surge hiring that needs bodies by Monday and none by June. We won't sign a carrier we can't keep supplied, and we won't place a driver into a seat we expect to disappear. If you want to know how we think about drivers who stay, start with finding CDL drivers who stay. Selling to trucking companies rather than hiring drivers? That's a different service — Marketing for Trucking.
Our numbers
No third party audited these. They're our own operating numbers — the claims we make publicly about our own shop, and the standard you should hold us to on a call.
- 100+
- drivers our operation places per month
- 3,000+
- lifetime CDL hires
- 50+
- carrier partners
- 24 hrs
- to first drivers for a new carrier
“They came in, fixed our recruiting, and now manage the whole operation with AI. We just do a 30-min call weekly — they handle the rest.”
More carrier feedback, in the carriers' own words: results.
Questions Laredo carriers ask us
Ask any agency the same questions. Then compare who does the work and when the money changes hands — staffing and recruiting are not the same purchase.
How much does a truck driver recruiting agency cost in Laredo?
We charge per placed driver — no retainer, no weekly fee. The placement fee is quoted per engagement (it depends on your lanes, pay and equipment) and paid half when the driver starts and half after the driver's first 14 days, so part of our fee is only due once the driver has stayed. There is no Laredo-specific price list.
How many trucking companies are based in Laredo?
FMCSA's carrier census lists 2,128 active carriers with a business address in the Laredo area (Laredo and nearby): 1,752 with one to nine trucks, 267 operators with 10 to 49, and 76 with 50 or more, roughly 20,461 power units in all. Fleet sizes are self-reported on the MCS-150, so read it as a scale, not a headcount.
What do truck drivers make in Laredo?
BLS puts the median annual wage for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in the Laredo, TX metro area at $49,010, with a mean of $53,470 (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). That blends local hourly seats with OTR mileage pay and lags the market by up to a year — treat it as the floor a driver already knows, not the offer that makes them switch.
Do you have an office in Laredo?
No. Our nearest office is Lancaster, TX, about 430 miles away. We don't need a desk in Laredo to place drivers in Laredo — recruiting is phone, text and paperwork — and we won't put a virtual-office pin on a map to pretend otherwise.
How fast can you get drivers for a Laredo carrier?
Our claim, from our own operation: first drivers in 24 hours for a carrier whose intake is complete. Full ramp-up depends on your pay, lanes, home time, and how quickly your side reviews and approves submissions — the carriers that reply the same day fill seats first.
Do you recruit Spanish-speaking and cross-border drivers in Laredo?
Yes. Our recruiter network includes Spanish-speaking recruiters, and cross-border work in Laredo — transloads, drayage on a loop, FAST-card lanes — is a specific ask we screen for. We confirm the paperwork a driver actually holds before submitting them.
Drivers in Laredo: browse current CDL-A jobs or get matched to a carrier — free for drivers.
1 FMCSA Company Census (2026-09-26): active carriers based in Laredo; MCS-150 filed in the last 24 months; 1–20,000 trucks; fewer than 10 buses. 10+ truck counts merge registrations sharing an address or D-U-N-S number. Totals and the 1–9 band count active USDOT registrations; fleet sizes are self-reported on the MCS-150, so read them as a scale, not a headcount.
Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025, occupation 53-3032, series OEUM002970000000053303213 (median) and OEUM002970000000053303204 (mean).
Written by
Andrius Pletniovas — Founder, CDL Agency
Andrius Pletniovas (Andrius Digital) is the founder of CDL Agency, a truck-driver recruiting and marketing company that has placed 3,000+ CDL drivers for 50+ carriers across the U.S. He writes about driver recruiting, retention, and the trucking market from running the agency every day.
More about Andrius →Official personal website →