A full-time UPS package car driver at top rate earns $46.65 to $47.04 an hour from 1 August 2026, depending on the regional supplement to the Teamsters contract. That’s about $97,000 a year for a 40-hour week, before overtime. New drivers start at $23.00 an hour and reach top rate after four years. On 1 August 2027 the top rate rises another $2.25, to about $49 an hour, the figure the Teamsters promised when the contract was signed in 2023.
Most “UPS driver salary” figures online are averages from job sites, and they mix part-time and full-time staff, new hires and 20-year veterans. The real numbers are written into the 2023 to 2028 National Master Agreement between UPS and the Teamsters, which covers about 295,000 UPS employees in the US. We’ve read it and set out the full pay scale below, with what a driver takes home and how it compares with other delivery jobs.
The key figures
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Package driver top rate from 1 Aug 2026 | $46.65 to $47.04 an hour | UPS/Teamsters supplements (four regions checked) |
| Top rate a year, at 40 hours a week | About $97,000 to $97,800 | Paygrade calculation |
| Top rate from 1 Aug 2027 | $48.90 to $49.29 an hour | Same supplements |
| New full-time driver start rate | $23.00 an hour | National Master Agreement, Article 41 |
| Time to reach top rate | 4 years | Article 41 |
| Overtime | Time and a half after 8 hours a day or 40 a week ($70.11 an hour at $46.74) | Supplements |
| Part-time start rate | $21.00 an hour | Article 22 |
| General raises, 2023 to 2027 | $7.50 an hour in total | Articles 22 and 41 |
| UPS’s figure for the average full-time driver | About $170,000 a year in pay and benefits by the end of the contract | UPS investor presentation, August 2023 |
| US light truck drivers, median | $21.57 an hour ($44,860 a year) | BLS, May 2025 |
The UPS driver pay scale, year by year
The national agreement sets the raises; each regional supplement sets the actual top rate. These are the package driver top rates in four of them, from the contract wage tables:
| Supplement (region) | From 1 Aug 2023 | 1 Aug 2024 | 1 Aug 2025 | 1 Aug 2026 | 1 Aug 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Area | $44.24 | $44.99 | $45.74 | $46.74 | $48.99 |
| Metro Philadelphia | $44.31 | $45.06 | $45.81 | $46.81 | $49.06 |
| Local 135 (Indiana) | $44.15 | $44.90 | $45.65 | $46.65 | $48.90 |
| Northern California | $44.54 | $45.29 | $46.04 | $47.04 | $49.29 |
| General raise that year | +$2.75 | +$0.75 | +$0.75 | +$1.00 | +$2.25 |
Two things are worth knowing about these rates:
- The spread between regions is small. The four supplements are within 39 cents of each other, because every region gets the same dollar raises on top of rates that were already close.
- They may go up with inflation. The contract has a cost-of-living clause (Article 33) that adds 1 cent an hour for every 0.2 point rise in the CPI-W above the previous year’s index plus 3%. Any COLA becomes part of the base rate, so your local rate can be slightly higher than the table.
What new UPS drivers earn: the four-year progression
Anyone entering a full-time package car or feeder driver job after 1 August 2023 follows the same national progression (Article 41, Section 2(c)):
| Time in the job | Hourly rate | A year at 40 hours | Take-home (federal taxes only) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $23.00 | $47,840 | $40,619 |
| 12 months | $24.00 | $49,920 | $42,291 |
| 24 months | $25.00 | $52,000 | $43,962 |
| 36 months | $30.75 | $63,960 | $53,572 |
| 48 months | Top rate ($46.74 in the Atlantic Area) | $97,219 | $77,224 |
Take-home is our calculation for a single filer with the standard deduction, after federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare at 2026 rates. State income tax, which ranges from nothing in states such as Texas and Florida to several percent elsewhere, comes off on top.
The progression is where the money is lost: a new driver earns about $213,720 over the first four years at 40 hours a week, roughly what a top-rate driver makes in 2.2 years. Two exceptions soften it:
- Full-timers already at UPS who bid into a driving job keep their current rate for six months (a “break-in” period), then go straight to top rate.
- Part-timers on the payroll before 1 August 2023 who are promoted to full-time are “red circled”: they keep their higher part-time rate until the progression catches up.
Someone hired as a driver in late 2026 reaches the 48-month step in late 2030, after this contract ends on 31 July 2028, so their eventual top rate depends on the next agreement.
Overtime and what a full year really pays
Under the supplements we checked, drivers on five 8-hour days get time and a half for every hour over 8 in a day or 40 in a week. At the Atlantic Area rate of $46.74 that’s $70.11 an hour. As an illustration, a top-rate driver who averaged one hour of overtime a day would gross about $115,448 a year and take home about $90,048 after federal taxes.
The contract also limits how far that can go. Drivers can’t be forced to work a sixth day outside their regular week, and drivers who sign up for the “9.5 list” can file a grievance if they’re worked more than 9.5 hours a day on three days in a week, with penalty pay of up to triple time, then quadruple time for repeat breaches.
How UPS pay compares with other delivery jobs
| Job | Hourly pay | Source |
|---|---|---|
| UPS package driver, top rate (Atlantic Area, Aug 2026) | $46.74 | Contract |
| UPS package driver, 36-month step | $30.75 | Contract |
| US postal mail carriers, median | $29.11 | BLS, May 2025 |
| Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, median | $28.19 | BLS, May 2025 |
| UPS package driver, start rate | $23.00 | Contract |
| Amazon DSP drivers, average | Nearly $23 | Amazon, 2026 |
| Light truck drivers, median | $21.57 | BLS, May 2025 |
| Couriers and messengers, median | $18.85 | BLS, May 2025 |
A new UPS driver starts on about the same hourly pay as an Amazon delivery driver. The difference comes in year three: by the fourth year a UPS driver at top rate earns more than twice the median light truck driver in the US, and about 60% more than the median postal carrier. For context, the median for all US jobs was $24.51 an hour in May 2025, so even the start rate is close to typical pay across the US job market.
Benefits: what’s behind the $170,000 figure
UPS told investors in August 2023 that by the end of the contract the average full-time driver would make ”~$170K annually in pay and benefits”. That’s a company figure, and most of the gap between it and the hourly wage is benefits the driver never sees in a paycheck:
- Health care: in regions covered by TeamCare, UPS makes the weekly payments to the fund, and Article 34 raises the company’s health and pension contributions by $40 a week every 1 August.
- Pension: full-time Teamsters in the UPS/IBT Full-Time Employee Pension Plan can retire on $4,700 a month after 35 years at any age, or $4,200 after 30 years (from January 2024). Those who reach 35 years and age 55 by 31 July 2028 get $5,300 a month.
- Time off and conditions: Martin Luther King Jr. Day became a paid holiday in 2023, and every new package car bought after 1 January 2024 has to have air conditioning.
Part-time and seasonal UPS jobs
About half of UPS’s 385,000 or so hourly employees are part-time, according to its 2025 annual report. Part-timers hired after 1 August 2023 start at $21.00 an hour and rise to $23.00 after four years; from 1 August 2027 the part-time start rate becomes $23.00. Part-timers who were already at UPS in 2023 got the same $7.50 in raises as full-timers, and UPS said they would make at least $25.75 an hour by the end of the contract.
For the holidays, UPS said on 7 October 2026 that it would hire about 100,000 seasonal workers. The driving roles are driver helpers, who ride along with a package driver and help with deliveries (no driver’s license needed, but you must be able to lift up to 70 lbs), and seasonal support drivers, who deliver in their own car for hourly pay plus mileage (you must be 21 or over). Under the contract, seasonal support drivers can work from 15 November to 26 December, get a 3-hour daily guarantee, and are paid mileage at the IRS rate.
Is a UPS driver job worth it?
On pay, yes, if you can get through the first three years. Top-rate UPS drivers are among the best-paid people in the US without a degree, and the contract is clear about raises and overtime. The trade-off is physical: a route means lifting, heat and long days, and the 9.5 rule exists because drivers were being worked far longer. If a job that pays well because it’s hard appeals to you, see the highest-paying job nobody wants; if it’s the solo nature of driving a route, see our list of well-paid jobs where you barely talk to anyone.
To see where your own pay stands, use the salary calculator or take the Am I Underpaid? quiz.
Limits of these figures
- We checked four supplements out of many. Rates in other regions differ slightly; your local union can give you the exact table for your building.
- COLA isn’t included. Any cost-of-living increase is added to the base rate on top of the table.
- Hours vary. Annual figures assume 40 hours a week, 52 weeks; the overtime example is an illustration, not an average.
- Take-home is federal only, for a single filer with no other income. State and local taxes, union dues and any pre-tax deductions come off on top.
- The $170,000 and $25.75 figures are UPS’s own claims, made in 2023. More on how we use official data in our methodology.
FAQ
Do UPS drivers really make $170,000 a year? Not in wages. UPS’s $170,000 figure is pay plus benefits for the average full-time driver by the end of the contract. In wages, a top-rate package driver earns about $97,000 a year at 40 hours in 2026, and about $102,000 from August 2027, plus any overtime.
How long does it take a UPS driver to reach top pay? Four years (48 months) for a new hire: $23.00 at the start, $24.00 after a year, $25.00 after two, $30.75 after three, then top rate. A full-time UPS employee who moves into driving reaches top rate after a 6-month break-in period.
Sources
- Teamsters and UPS, 2023-2028 National Master Agreement, August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2028: Article 22 (part-time wages), Article 33 (COLA), Article 34 (health and pension), Article 37 (9.5 rule), Article 41 (full-time raises and progression), Article 26 (seasonal support drivers), Article 29 (MLK holiday), Article 18 (air conditioning).
- UPS/Teamsters supplemental agreements (package driver wage tables): Atlantic Area, Metro Philadelphia, Local 135 Rider, Northern California.
- Teamsters, contract highlights (“General wage increases will total $7.50”) and ratification release, August 2023.
- UPS, second quarter 2023 earnings presentation, 8 August 2023 ($170,000 pay and benefits; $25.75 for existing part-timers).
- UPS, 2025 Form 10-K, February 2026 (about 295,000 US employees under the national master agreement; about 385,000 hourly employees, nearly half part-time).
- UPS Jobs, seasonal support drivers and driver helpers; seasonal hiring announcement of 7 October 2026 as reported by GV Wire.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national medians for light truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, postal mail carriers, couriers and messengers, all occupations).
- Take-home pay: Paygrade’s US tax engine (IRS 2026 brackets and standard deduction, Social Security and Medicare rates), checked against hand-worked examples.