What the May data shows
Our monthly counts come from the FMCSA Company Census File on data.transportation.gov, and each count is a snapshot: the total for a given month can change in later files as more records are added. The first May 2026 snapshot, pulled June 11, showed fewer registrations than April, but later files revised May upward, so this post no longer quotes the early May figures. Current counts by month and State are on /data/new-trucking-companies.
The Motus cutover
May was not a routine month administratively. FMCSA took its legacy registration systems offline at 8:00 PM ET on May 14, 2026 and moved USDOT registration to Motus, its replacement platform; the Unified Registration System no longer accepts new USDOT applications. New applicants create an account and apply at motus.dot.gov. FMCSA had opened Motus to supporting companies (BOC-3 filers, insurance filers, and service providers) in Phase I on December 8, 2025 (91 FR 23144).
A word of caution on reading any single month: registration counts move with seasonality, application backlogs, processing lag, and freight-market conditions, and the census data alone cannot show whether the Motus cutover caused any change.
Why this matters
For carriers who applied during the cutover window, the practical advice is to verify the registration actually landed: look up your USDOT number or company name on FMCSA's SAFER Company Snapshot and that downstream filings (BOC-3 designation, BMC-91 insurance) attached to the right record. System migrations are exactly when records fall through cracks.
For brokers, factoring companies, and compliance vendors that prospect from the new-entrant pool, use the current monthly series rather than an early snapshot, since month totals are revised as later files arrive.
Track the data monthly
The full series - national totals, all 50 states plus DC, top registration cities, fleet-size mix, and interstate-only counts - is published free at /data/new-trucking-companies. Each state gets its own breakdown page; the Texas page at /data/new-trucking-companies/texas covers the largest new-entrant market in the country.
The dataset refreshes monthly when FMCSA publishes the updated Company Census File, and every table is available as a CSV download. The primary source is the FMCSA Company Census File on data.transportation.gov (dataset az4n-8mr2): https://data.transportation.gov/d/az4n-8mr2
Source on Motus: Federal Register, Availability of Motus, FMCSA's New Registration System, 91 FR 23144 (April 29, 2026): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/29/2026-08334/availability-of-motus-fmcsas-new-registration-system