The National Transportation Institute

What The National Transportation Institute does

The National Transportation Institute (NTI), operating under the legal entity Payday Analytics, LLC (a Minnesota LLC), is a private compensation benchmarking and data-research firm founded in 1995 and headquartered in Mankato, Minnesota with 1-10 employees. The company provides subscription-based wage benchmarking data, custom reports, and consulting services for the North American trucking industry, focused on professional truck drivers and diesel technicians. NTI's customer base spans for-hire motor carriers, dedicated fleets, third-party logistics providers (3PLs), private trucking fleets operated by retailers and manufacturers, shippers, and equity analysts covering transportation-sector stocks.

NTI's product portfolio centers on a suite of subscription surveys: the National Survey of Driver Wages (the company's flagship product, operational since 1994 and described as the industry's gold-standard), the National Private Fleet Survey, the National Dedicated Fleet Survey, the National City-Centric Driver Pay Survey covering more than 800 U.S. locations, the National Driver Wage Index, the National Survey of Technician Wages, and the Velocity data platform for real-time and historical benchmarking. Reports compare wages across nearly 200 compensation attributes — mileage, hourly, weekly, annual pay, incentives, bonuses, benefits, and endorsements — and are delivered with Power BI-driven visualizations. The company also operates the Top Pay Carrier Certification program, an Expert Guidance consulting service, the annual Driver Market Forecast (2026 edition released), and community initiatives including We Heart Truckers and the Next Gen Trucking Survey.

NTI commercializes its data through annual and multi-year subscription contracts sold direct to enterprise subscribers (fleet executives, HR, compensation analysts, and recruiting teams) through a subscriber portal; pricing is not publicly disclosed and quotes are obtained by inquiry. Marketing reaches industry stakeholders through a blog, the NTI Alerts weekly email, media appearances (including in FreightWaves and FleetOwner), a monthly slot on SiriusXM Road Dog Trucking hosted by President & CEO Leah Shaver, social channels, and the We Heart Truckers and Next Gen Trucking community programs. NTI is privately held with no disclosed funding rounds, acquisitions, or external investors, and operates with a lean staff of 1-10 employees under the legal entity Payday Analytics, LLC.

Name

The National Transportation Institute

Legal name

Payday Analytics, LLC

Website

https://driverwages.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The National Transportation Institute provides subscription-based compensation benchmarking data, wage surveys, and consulting for North American trucking fleets, focusing on professional drivers and diesel technicians across for-hire, private, and dedicated fleet segments.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Transportation Compensation Benchmarking

NAICS

Other Support Activities for Transportation (4889)

SIC

Transportation Services (4700)

akta.pro primary industry

Transportation (Drivers/Fleet) Staffing (BPACAEAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Data, Monitoring & Analytics for CV Compliance (Sensors, Imaging, Dashboards, Reporting) (TLAJAKAJ)

Keywords

• Trucking compensation benchmarking
• Driver wage surveys
• Fleet compensation data
• Transportation labor research
• Diesel technician wages

Headquarters

HQ city

Mankato

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Data Subscription Reports: Annual/multi-year subscriptions to benchmarking reports including National Survey of Driver Wages, National Private Fleet Survey, National Dedicated Fleet Survey, National Driver Wage Index, and City-Centric Driver Pay Survey. Reports include Power BI visualizations and comparisons against competitors and market benchmarks.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The National Transportation Institute provides subscription-based compensation benchmarking data, wage surveys, and consulting services for the trucking industry. Its core products include the National Survey of Driver Wages (gold-standard since 1994), surveys for private fleets, dedicated fleets, 3PLs, and diesel technicians, plus the Velocity data platform and National Driver Wage Index. Reports cover nearly 200 compensation attributes and 800+ U.S. locations, delivered with Power BI visualizations to support fleet recruiting, retention, and compensation planning.

Product overview

The National Transportation Institute (NTI) operates as a data and benchmarking platform for the trucking industry, offering a suite of compensation surveys and analysis tools. The portfolio includes the core benchmarking products: National Survey of Driver Wages (gold-standard since 1994), National Private Fleet Survey, National Dedicated Fleet Survey, National City-Centric Driver Pay Survey, Velocity data platform, National Driver Wage Index, and National Survey of Technician Wages. Supporting offerings include Top Pay Carrier Certification, Expert Guidance consulting services, the annual Driver Market Forecast, Next Gen Trucking Survey, and We Heart Truckers driver initiative. Together these products enable fleet operators to benchmark wages, benefits, bonuses, incentives, and over 100 compensation attributes against select competitors and market benchmarks to support recruiting and retention goals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• National Survey of Driver Wages Annual benchmarking report comparing mileage and hourly pay, weekly pay snapshots, annual earnings, incentives, bonuses, and 100+ other compensation attributes for fleet drivers; intended for C-level executives, HR, operations, recruiting, and sales professionals at trucking fleets.
• National Private Fleet Survey Job-specific, location-level driver pay benchmark survey for private fleets across the U.S., used by compensation analysts, HR professionals, and logistics/transportation managers at company-owned trucking operations.
• National Dedicated Fleet Survey Survey providing verified W-2, mileage, and hourly earnings data at more than 800 U.S. locations for dedicated fleets and 3PLs, supporting contract pricing and driver placement decisions.
• National City-Centric Driver Pay Survey City-level driver wage data at more than 800 U.S. locations, broken out by job type, labor level, and endorsements, with mileage, hourly, and annual pay benchmarks for localized hiring and competitive analysis.
• Velocity Data solution providing real-time and historical driver wage benchmarking and market intelligence for trucking industry compensation decisions.
• National Survey of Technician Wages Compensation benchmarking survey for diesel technicians, supporting fleet hiring and retention strategies for maintenance personnel.
• National Driver Wage Index Index product that tracks driver wage momentum across trailer types, used by shippers and carriers to understand cost pressures affecting supply chain and freight decisions.
• Top Pay Carrier Certification Certification program recognizing carriers demonstrating top-tier pay, health and retirement benefits, and carrier stability based on NTI's three-phased evaluation criteria.
• Expert Guidance Consulting service leveraging NTI's compensation data and analysis capabilities to support trucking industry clients' recruiting and retention success.
• 2026 Driver Market Forecast Annual forecast analyzing driver pay trends, market forces, supply constraints, and wage momentum projections for trucking companies, dedicated 3PLs, and private fleets.

Quantifiable outcome

• Driver hiring activity declined significantly during Q1 2026, reflecting smaller pool of available candidates and increasing competition for experienced drivers
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• FreightWaves: Trucking and freight industry data, news, and analytics platform serving motor carriers, brokers, and shippers. Comparable to NTI as a subscription data product for trucking industry buyers, though focused on freight rates and market intelligence rather than driver compensation.
• FTR Transportation Intelligence: Trucking industry forecasts and market intelligence provider publishing data, reports, and analysis for motor carriers and equipment manufacturers. Closely comparable to NTI in serving trucking fleet buyers with subscription-based industry research and benchmarking.
• Culpepper & Associates: Compensation survey and benchmarking data provider selling salary, benefits, and HR metrics to compensation professionals. Operates the same horizontal subscription benchmarking model as NTI, just across a broader industry mix.
• Payscale: Subscription-based compensation benchmarking platform that sells workforce pay data to HR and compensation teams across industries. Highly comparable to NTI in business model and buyer, though Payscale operates across all industries rather than trucking-specific.

Others

• American Trucking Associations (ATA): Largest U.S. trucking industry trade association providing advocacy, benchmarking reports, and member data services. Comparable as an information source for trucking fleets, but as a non-profit association rather than a subscription data company.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): U.S. government agency publishing free wage and employment statistics by occupation and geography. Overlaps with NTI on compensation data but is a public alternative that NTI competes against in pricing discussions with fleets.

Broad incumbents

• Willis Towers Watson (WTW): Large global advisory firm publishing compensation survey data and HR analytics for enterprise customers. Comparable in offering compensation benchmarking data, but as part of a broader insurance, risk, and HR services portfolio rather than a trucking niche.
• Mercer: Global HR consulting and compensation benchmarking firm offering compensation surveys, total reward strategy, and workforce analytics. Comparable to NTI as a compensation data incumbent, but with far broader industry coverage and scale.

Emerging players

• Glassdoor: Online employer and salary data platform publishing crowdsourced compensation data. Adjacent to NTI's compensation benchmarking model and potentially a lower-cost alternative for some fleet HR use cases, though lacking trucking-specific curated data.

Regional players

• ACT Research: U.S. trucking and commercial vehicle industry research and forecasting firm providing market intelligence to OEMs, fleets, and dealers. Comparable to NTI as a subscription data/research provider to the trucking industry, but more focused on equipment and freight cycles than driver compensation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/NTIdriverwages
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-national-transportation-institute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The National Transportation Institute