What does the US Freight and Passenger Transportation table measure?

It tracks the physical movement of freight and passengers across the United States using modes such as trucking, rail, aviation, inland waterways, and public transit, measuring actual volume rather than financial value.

How often is this transportation data published and how far back does it go?

The data is published monthly by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics via FRED, with historical series extending back to 2000.

What specific freight and passenger breakdowns are included in the table?

The table includes aggregate indexes, truck tonnage, rail freight carloads, intermodal containers, inland waterway freight, air freight, domestic and international air passenger journeys, and public transit boardings.

Why does this table measure physical volume instead of revenue?

Measuring physical movement avoids inflation distortion, providing a pure volume-based indicator of the United States goods and passenger cycles that often shifts ahead of industrial production.

US Freight and Passenger Transportation

Name: US Freight and Passenger Transportation
Creator: FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

US monthly freight and passenger transportation index and physical volume measures from the BTS.

Source: FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis)Last updated: Sep 21, 2026, 14:21Curated by Bui Thanh PhucAbout this data ↓

Indicator	06-2026	05-2026	04-2026	03-2026	02-2026	01-2026	12-2025	11-2025	10-2025	09-2025	08-2025	07-2025	06-2025	05-2025	04-2025	03-2025	02-2025	01-2025	12-2024	11-2024	10-2024	09-2024	08-2024	07-2024	06-2024	05-2024	04-2024	03-2024	02-2024	01-2024	12-2023	11-2023	10-2023	09-2023	08-2023	07-2023	06-2023
Aggregate transportation index2	130.2	130.3	131.8	132.8	131.6	130.1	130.9	130.7	130.7	131.3	132.3	131.6	130.5	130.6	131	130.9	130	130.6	130.5	130.4	130.9	130.3	131	129.8	131	130.8	128.4	129.2	129	127.7	129.7	128.7	128.7	128.8	127.8	127.5	126.6
Freight transportation index	134.9	135.3	138.1	139.3	138.2	136.3	137	137.2	136.7	138	138.8	138.6	136.9	136.9	137.7	137.5	136.9	137.8	137.3	137	138.3	137.3	138.9	137.4	137.9	138.6	135.4	136.6	136.7	135.2	138.5	137.4	137.7	137.5	137.1	137.7	137
Passenger transportation index	129	128.7	128.1	128.8	127.3	126.6	127.5	126.7	127.5	127	128.3	126.9	126.8	126.9	126.6	126.7	125.3	125.4	126.1	126.1	125.5	125.4	124.8	123.8	126.2	124.5	123.4	123.6	122.9	121.8	121.8	120.7	120.4	121	118.8	117.2	115.7
Freight Transportation by Mode5
Truck tonnage index	113.3	112.8	116.2	117.6	115.7	114.1	113.1	113.1	112.2	113.7	114.9	113.9	113.1	113.4	113.8	113.4	113.4	113.1	112.9	113.1	114	112.9	114.6	113.4	113.7	114.8	113	112.9	113.7	112.4	116.2	113.8	114.3	114	114.1	115	114.1
Rail freight carloads	991,352	1,003,553	1,001,084	994,672	992,757	984,325	927,673	959,986	954,850	955,792	969,852	988,605	971,095	978,322	981,833	978,835	936,817	942,435	955,253	945,940	953,274	967,556	961,239	944,302	951,505	922,985	924,733	936,542	956,771	929,870	976,016	975,318	969,707	976,682	953,688	964,330	972,976
Intermodal containers	1,239,793	1,232,727	1,220,830	1,223,520	1,211,071	1,178,759	1,186,769	1,146,809	1,146,363	1,177,432	1,183,970	1,188,093	1,119,031	1,130,490	1,196,513	1,207,458	1,198,804	1,210,318	1,208,451	1,216,399	1,186,898	1,193,937	1,182,010	1,152,565	1,146,767	1,120,738	1,099,969	1,128,114	1,134,161	1,096,271	1,114,266	1,107,751	1,121,889	1,071,983	1,043,218	1,061,785	1,049,971
Inland waterway freight	33.4	36.6	37.1	38.5	31.3	33	48.3	51.1	54.5	51.7	55	51.8	51.9	51	47.8	51.3	42.3	46.7	49.2	51.3	53.6	50.3	55	52.2	53.1	54.7	47.9	52.4	47.1	45.5	48.7	51.2	52.4	50.1	54.7	51.6	51.9
Air freight and parcel turnover volume	3,898,706	3,880,564	3,891,724	4,168,707	3,585,586	3,729,077	4,323,387	4,372,469	4,366,864	4,010,375	4,084,073	4,161,254	3,892,736	3,903,469	4,083,958	4,245,257	3,282,956	3,813,355	4,449,632	4,443,579	4,501,219	4,054,189	4,209,632	4,089,697	4,077,517	4,203,548	3,928,293	4,166,039	3,435,784	3,692,096	4,339,924	4,258,804	4,191,911	4,079,005	4,142,794	4,010,720	4,013,545
Passenger Transportation7
Air passenger journeys2		84,693	80,379	84,423	68,503	69,492	81,187	74,849	84,164	76,819	86,766	92,180	88,679	85,277	80,404	83,674	67,209	70,744	83,339	77,074	82,832	77,500	86,821	91,809	89,731	87,086	81,241	84,854	70,399	70,060	78,699	77,713	82,633	76,259	83,074	87,821	84,032
Domestic		73,760	69,799	73,163	59,391	59,104	69,889	65,435	74,270	67,397	74,477	78,880	76,327	74,251	69,614	72,243	58,228	60,388	72,100	67,699	73,071	68,010	74,819	78,804	77,184	75,830	70,588	73,235	61,000	59,811	67,924	68,419	73,046	66,862	71,494	75,379	72,483
International		10,933	10,580	11,260	9,112	10,388	11,298	9,414	9,894	9,422	12,289	13,300	12,352	11,026	10,790	11,431	8,981	10,356	11,239	9,375	9,761	9,490	12,002	13,005	12,547	11,256	10,653	11,619	9,399	10,249	10,775	9,294	9,587	9,397	11,580	12,442	11,549
Public transit boardings		708,597	709,285	708,038	602,299	619,914	650,006	649,901	744,815	714,419	668,354	659,578	657,434	703,098	698,705	682,671	603,373	627,506	626,847	647,822	740,030	681,970	648,342	630,683	626,352	684,142	661,106	648,846	606,182	597,906	587,067	614,770	659,414	631,532	612,854	562,975	591,068
Air passenger turnover volume		99,806,195	94,397,847	99,439,300	78,991,027	83,630,942	96,559,635	86,616,101	96,836,264	89,828,167	103,883,418	110,272,196	105,669,022	99,348,983	93,960,719	96,934,474	76,678,365	83,378,647	96,895,920	86,650,582	94,244,460	89,581,519	102,237,212	108,804,478	105,774,733	99,761,464	92,515,166	97,235,732	79,060,877	81,377,910	91,018,518	86,927,352	93,586,397	88,395,156	98,431,496	104,221,564	99,170,573
Rail passenger turnover volume		666,214,360	622,713,540	624,565,570	454,600,243	487,419,254	634,064,486	608,340,428	613,413,797	564,942,443	635,398,745	665,950,950	647,976,589	617,843,054	566,442,023	592,302,406	455,127,310	493,762,438	633,887,303	547,052,186	583,218,878	547,999,418	626,221,873	628,055,860	602,324,829	583,499,606	536,799,470	564,609,985	439,686,101	439,635,174	546,229,193	540,470,296	560,624,024	541,455,396	581,431,370	605,455,302	560,701,408
Revenue passenger-miles2		99,440,769	93,984,347	99,003,685	78,642,748	83,220,828	96,161,676	86,170,252	96,268,591	89,319,937	103,422,634	109,835,239	105,259,313	98,997,224	93,562,863	96,511,478	76,340,684	83,020,018	96,535,007	86,241,811	93,747,088	89,211,873	101,891,697	108,410,637	105,399,318	99,370,931	92,096,423	96,770,546	78,689,870	81,030,970	90,668,486	86,496,249	93,097,143	87,867,782	97,888,687	103,663,185	98,688,403
Domestic		69,604,394	66,203,344	70,131,409	55,991,790	56,945,774	67,157,514	61,513,272	68,519,221	62,065,940	70,563,594	75,596,077	72,866,696	69,597,856	65,749,031	68,605,738	54,805,891	57,644,998	68,684,695	62,674,841	67,290,313	62,722,611	70,613,270	75,257,796	73,080,795	70,516,624	65,739,356	69,049,651	57,070,954	56,824,822	64,453,868	63,626,451	67,633,388	61,777,893	67,936,143	72,267,946	68,789,232
International		29,836,375	27,781,003	28,872,276	22,650,958	26,275,054	29,004,162	24,656,980	27,749,370	27,253,997	32,859,040	34,239,162	32,392,617	29,399,368	27,813,832	27,905,740	21,534,793	25,375,020	27,850,312	23,566,970	26,456,775	26,489,262	31,278,427	33,152,841	32,318,523	28,854,307	26,357,067	27,720,895	21,618,916	24,206,148	26,214,618	22,869,798	25,463,755	26,089,889	29,952,544	31,395,239	29,899,171
Available seat-miles2		120,564,059	116,787,152	119,414,073	99,474,859	105,738,820	117,543,298	109,133,643	116,493,120	109,943,736	122,213,492	127,702,170	123,238,966	119,739,828	115,620,154	118,964,798	98,176,547	105,223,244	114,681,423	107,092,416	112,636,747	108,829,483	119,340,251	123,653,289	120,479,271	117,109,692	112,037,153	115,006,831	99,790,450	103,400,044	111,725,973	105,873,899	111,636,328	107,001,297	116,931,044	117,336,398	111,489,111
Domestic		84,474,119	83,176,564	85,036,288	70,629,089	73,388,388	82,389,909	78,188,244	83,111,810	76,603,858	83,919,284	88,337,537	85,740,445	84,123,376	81,732,877	84,801,318	69,896,813	73,789,035	81,395,868	77,556,505	80,864,158	76,988,712	83,173,339	86,030,721	83,891,399	82,230,301	78,920,268	81,540,215	70,580,742	71,938,056	78,923,210	76,706,569	80,679,766	75,749,136	82,002,969	81,986,175	78,058,559
International		36,089,940	33,610,588	34,377,785	28,845,770	32,350,432	35,153,389	30,945,399	33,381,310	33,339,878	38,294,208	39,364,633	37,498,521	35,616,452	33,887,277	34,163,480	28,279,734	31,434,209	33,285,555	29,535,911	31,772,589	31,840,771	36,166,912	37,622,568	36,587,872	34,879,391	33,116,885	33,466,616	29,209,708	31,461,988	32,802,763	29,167,330	30,956,562	31,252,161	34,928,075	35,350,223	33,430,552
Load factor2		82.5	80.5	82.9	79.1	78.7	81.8	79	82.6	81.2	84.6	86	85.4	82.7	80.9	81.1	77.8	78.9	84.2	80.5	83.2	82	85.4	87.7	87.5	84.9	82.2	84.1	78.9	78.4	81.2	81.7	83.4	82.1	83.7	88.3	88.5
Domestic		82.4	79.6	82.5	79.3	77.6	81.5	78.7	82.4	81	84.1	85.6	85	82.7	80.4	80.9	78.4	78.1	84.4	80.8	83.2	81.5	84.9	87.5	87.1	85.8	83.3	84.7	80.9	79	81.7	82.9	83.8	81.6	82.8	88.1	88.1
International		82.7	82.7	84	78.5	81.2	82.5	79.7	83.1	81.7	85.8	87	86.4	82.5	82.1	81.7	76.1	80.7	83.7	79.8	83.3	83.2	86.5	88.1	88.3	82.7	79.6	82.8	74	76.9	79.9	78.4	82.3	83.5	85.8	88.8	89.4

Latest reading

Freight transportation index stood at 134.9 in Jun 2026. That is −0.3% from May 2026 and −1.5% from a year earlier. The series on this page is monthly and runs from Jan 2000 to Jun 2026. Source: FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis).

Latest: 134.9; Jun 2026
vs previous period: −0.3%; May 2026
vs a year earlier: −1.5%

About this data

US monthly freight and passenger transportation index and physical volume measures from the BTS. The table details truck tonnage, rail carloads, air freight, inland waterways, and passenger journeys, available monthly since 2000 from FRED. Figures track physical movement without inflation adjustments to reflect transportation demand.

Frequently asked questions

What does the US Freight and Passenger Transportation table measure?: It tracks the physical movement of freight and passengers across the United States using modes such as trucking, rail, aviation, inland waterways, and public transit, measuring actual volume rather than financial value.
How often is this transportation data published and how far back does it go?: The data is published monthly by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics via FRED, with historical series extending back to 2000.
What specific freight and passenger breakdowns are included in the table?: The table includes aggregate indexes, truck tonnage, rail freight carloads, intermodal containers, inland waterway freight, air freight, domestic and international air passenger journeys, and public transit boardings.
Why does this table measure physical volume instead of revenue?: Measuring physical movement avoids inflation distortion, providing a pure volume-based indicator of the United States goods and passenger cycles that often shifts ahead of industrial production.