Dry van spot linehaul rates paid to carriers averaged $2.17 per mile last week, minus fuel, unchanged from the week before. Rates climbed 31.9%, or $0.52 per mile, year over year and held 18.5%, or $0.34 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.
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Bellwether states
Across the dry van bellwether states, the moves-weighted outbound rate came in at $2.91 a mile, easing 0.4%, or $0.01 a mile, from the week before last and running 38.7%, or $0.81 a mile, above a year ago. Those states carried 35.6% of the country’s outbound dry van loads last week, down slightly from 35.7% the week before last and 35.4% 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 25, 2026 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Origin Region | Avg RPM | WoW % | YoY % |
| 1 | Great Lakes | $2.66 | +0.0% | +38.1% |
| 2 | Ohio River | $2.62 | -0.9% | +38.3% |
| 3 | California | $2.49 | +2.1% | +32.1% |
| 4 | Upper Atlantic | $2.32 | -0.6% | +39.8% |
| 5 | Lower Atlantic | $2.27 | -1.9% | +37.7% |
| 6 | Lower Midwest | $2.26 | -0.6% | +28.0% |
| 7 | Southeast | $2.19 | -1.2% | +35.4% |
| 8 | Carolinas | $2.18 | -0.8% | +34.9% |
| 9 | South Central | $1.98 | -0.6% | +24.0% |
| 10 | Florida-So Georgia | $1.43 | +0.5% | +28.0% |
The top 10 outbound markets accounted for 87.8% of dry van loads moved last week, and every one of them held well above its year-ago level, with gains ranging from roughly 23% to 39%. California put in the strongest week-over-week showing, up 2.1%, or $0.05 a mile, to $2.49 — the only origin in the top 10 to gain more than a percentage point.
Market conditions
Van load posts rose 1.9% week over week and 29.7% year over year last week — the only equipment type to add volume on the week. Equipment posts fell 2.9% and remain 25.8% under a year ago, extending the supply drawdown that has defined 2026. With freight advancing as capacity thinned, the load-to-truck ratio firmed to 11.40 from 10.86.
Short-term outlook
The 35-day DAT Rate Forecast places dry van spot near $2.14 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 band of the three equipment types DAT iQ tracks. That endpoint sits about $0.46 a mile above the actual rate on this date last year, when dry van ran $1.68 a mile, so the year-over-year premium holds even as week-to-week movement settles.
