Dry van spot linehaul rates paid to carriers averaged $2.17 per mile last week, minus fuel, down 1.2%, or $0.03 per mile, from the week before. Rates climbed 32.8%, or $0.53 per mile, year over year and held 19.7%, or $0.36 per mile, above the nine-year seasonal average of $1.82 per mile, near the top of the historical range.
All rates cited are linehaul only. They exclude fuel costs and surcharges unless otherwise noted.
Get the clearest, most accurate view of the truckload marketplace with data from DAT iQ.
Tune into DAT iQ Live, live on YouTube or LinkedIn, 10am ET every Tuesday.
Bellwether states
Across the dry van bellwether states, the moves-weighted outbound rate came in at $2.96 a mile last week. It held essentially flat week over week, moving less than a cent per mile, and it ran 41.5%, or $0.87 a mile, above a year ago. Those states carried 35.7% of the country’s outbound van loads last week, up from 35.5% the week before last and 35.2% a year ago, in line with the roughly 35% share the group usually holds.
Regional rate trends
| Dry Van — Top 10 Origins by Rate Per Mile · Week Ending September 18, 2026 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Origin Region | Avg RPM | WoW % | YoY % |
| 1 | Great Lakes | $2.66 | +0.6% (+$0.02) | +40.8% (+$0.77) |
| 2 | Ohio River | $2.64 | +0.3% (+$0.01) | +42.3% (+$0.79) |
| 3 | California | $2.44 | -1.5% (-$0.04) | +28.1% (+$0.53) |
| 4 | Upper Atlantic | $2.34 | +0.4% (+$0.01) | +41.2% (+$0.68) |
| 5 | Lower Atlantic | $2.32 | +0.4% (+$0.01) | +43.2% (+$0.70) |
| 6 | Lower Midwest | $2.28 | -3.5% (-$0.08) | +32.0% (+$0.55) |
| 7 | Southeast | $2.21 | -1.3% (-$0.03) | +37.2% (+$0.60) |
| 8 | Carolinas | $2.20 | -1.6% (-$0.04) | +38.4% (+$0.61) |
| 9 | South Central | $1.99 | -1.8% (-$0.04) | +24.6% (+$0.39) |
| 10 | Florida-So Georgia | $1.42 | -4.1% (-$0.06) | +25.8% (+$0.29) |
The top 10 outbound van markets accounted for 87.9% of loads moved last week. Great Lakes held up best week over week, edging up 0.6%, or $0.02 a mile, to $2.66, followed by Ohio River at $2.64. California eased 1.5% to $2.44, and rates softened modestly across most southern origins, with Florida-So Georgia again anchoring the list at $1.42. Every market in the top 10 held 25% to 43% above its year-ago level.
Market conditions
Van load posts rose 15.0% week over week and 33.3% year over year, and against the pre-Labor Day weeks of August, they ran about 2.2% higher, confirming that volume fully returned from the holiday lull. Equipment posts increased 8.5% on the week and sat roughly 3.5% below their August pace, while running 30.5% under a year ago. With freight and capacity advancing together, the load-to-truck ratio firmed to 11.22.
Short-term outlook
The 35-day DAT Rate Forecast places dry van spot near $2.15 a mile by late October, inside a confidence band of about plus or minus $0.08 a mile, or 3.6% of the forecast, the widest of the three equipment types. That endpoint sits about $0.46 a mile above the actual rate near this date last year, when van ran $1.69, so the year-over-year premium holds even as week-to-week movement settles.
