Short answer
About 25,000. FMCSA’s registration data showed 25,074 active broker authorities as of May 15, 2026, and 23,791 of them were based in the 50 states and DC. That’s down from 31,885 at the end of 2022 and still above the 21,770 on file at the end of 2019.
The count has swung hard. It grew by 46 percent in three years, gave back about two thirds of that gain, and has barely moved since late 2024.
Below are the numbers, where each one comes from, and what they leave out. We checked every figure on October 5, 2026.
Freight broker counts by year
| As of | Registered brokers | Source |
|---|---|---|
| End of 2015 | 16,745 | FMCSA year-end count |
| End of 2016 | 17,764 | FMCSA year-end count |
| End of 2017 | 18,637 | FMCSA year-end count |
| End of 2018 | 20,154 | FMCSA year-end count |
| End of 2019 | 21,770 | FMCSA year-end count |
| End of 2020 | 24,138 | FMCSA year-end count |
| End of 2021 | 29,184 | FMCSA year-end count |
| End of 2022 | 31,885 | FMCSA year-end count |
| End of 2023 | 28,773 | FMCSA year-end count |
| December 2025 | 25,127 | FMCSA report to Congress |
| May 15, 2026 | 25,074 | FMCSA registration statistics |
Year-end counts are the total brokers registered in Table 2 of FMCSA’s November 2024 broker transparency proposal (89 FR 91648). The 2025 and 2026 figures come from FMCSA’s Licensing and Insurance database, a different system, so treat the comparison as close and not exact. FMCSA’s own documents disagree on 2023: its 2024 Pocket Guide lists 28,351 property brokers and 1,078 household goods brokers.
The run-up and the shakeout
From the end of 2019 to the end of 2022, the count went from 21,770 to 31,885. FMCSA’s own table marks the sharpest year: broker authorities “grew by 20.90 percent from 2020 to 2021.”
Then it reversed. Brush Pass Research, which tracks broker authorities using Carrier Details data, counted 2,395 fewer brokerages in 2023 and another 3,104 fewer in 2024, leaving 25,334 at the end of December 2024.
Since then the number has flattened. Brush Pass counted 25,087 on April 1, 2025. FMCSA reported 25,127 in December 2025 and 25,074 in May 2026. That’s four readings across 17 months, all within 260 of each other. As of April 2025, Brush Pass put the total at 1.3 percent above where it stood in April 2021.
Where brokers are based
FMCSA’s May 15, 2026 snapshot breaks the count out by state. Texas, California, Florida and Illinois hold 9,399 of the 23,791 authorities based in the 50 states and DC. That’s about 40 percent.
| State | Active broker authorities |
|---|---|
| Texas | 3,055 |
| California | 2,684 |
| Florida | 2,067 |
| Illinois | 1,593 |
| Ohio | 947 |
| Georgia | 932 |
| New York | 793 |
| Pennsylvania | 766 |
| New Jersey | 751 |
| Michigan | 616 |
Source: FMCSA Registration Statistics, Licensing and Insurance snapshot of May 15, 2026. The other 1,283 active authorities are based outside the 50 states and DC.
A registration isn’t a busy brokerage
FMCSA counts authorities. The count says nothing about how much freight each one moves, and the business is top-heavy. In April 2024, FreightWaves quoted Kevin Hill of Brush Pass Research saying that of roughly 27,000 active brokers at the time, “88% of the industry’s gross revenue is controlled by the top 1,000 brokers.”
The count also misses people. A freight agent brokers freight under another company’s authority and bond, and doesn’t show up as a separate registration. And FMCSA’s broker category doesn’t separate property brokers from household goods brokers.
Other ways to size the industry
The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks freight transportation arrangement as an industry (NAICS 4885). It’s a wider group than truck brokers, because it also takes in freight forwarders, marine shipping agents and customs brokers.
| Year | Establishments | Employment | Average annual pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 19,642 | 239,816 | $65,502 |
| 2022 | 22,920 | 270,494 | $82,864 |
| 2023 | 24,206 | 270,919 | $81,751 |
| 2025 | 24,835 | 260,059 | $85,103 |
Source: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private sector, US total, NAICS 4885, annual averages.
BLS establishments kept rising through 2025 while FMCSA broker authorities fell, which is one more sign the two measure different things. Employment in the category peaked in 2023 and was about 10,900 lower in 2025.
The Transportation Intermediaries Association, the industry’s trade group, says it serves more than 1,800 members and that 76 percent of them are small businesses with revenue under $15 million.
What the number means if you run a brokerage
Roughly one in five of the authorities on file at the 2022 peak is gone. There are still about 3,300 more than at the end of 2019.
Our read: the easy-entry years are over, and the field that’s left is smaller, steadier and still crowded. A license and a load board don’t set a new brokerage apart from 25,000 others. Service and proof do. If you’re starting out, our guide to starting a freight brokerage covers the setup, how brokers find shippers covers the hard part, and how much freight brokers make covers the pay.
Use 25,000 as the number, and say where it came from and when. We’ll update this page as FMCSA posts new snapshots.