MCS-150 Compliance Index 2026
Nearly half of all active US motor carriers have not filed an MCS-150 biennial update in more than two years. We analysed all 2,237,147 active carriers on the FMCSA Motor Carrier Census to find out how many, where, and at what fleet size.
By the Fleetive Compliance Team · Published 2026-09-11 · Source: FMCSA Motor Carrier Census (public)
of active carriers are overdue
1,005,548 of 2,237,147 have no MCS-150 filing inside 24 months.
have no filing date at all
12.1% of active carriers carry no MCS-150 date on the census record.
spread between states
MI 67.2% versus CA 22.6% — same federal rule.
The smaller the carrier, the likelier the lapse
The overdue rate falls steadily as fleets grow. Almost half of one- and two-truck operations have missed a cycle — roughly 2.7 times the rate of carriers running 21 to 100 trucks.
| Fleet size | Overdue | Active carriers | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–2 trucks | 753,095 | 1,516,075 | 49.7% |
| 3–7 trucks | 137,220 | 339,200 | 40.5% |
| 8–20 trucks | 25,933 | 96,279 | 26.9% |
| 21–100 trucks | 7,402 | 39,807 | 18.6% |
| 101+ trucks | 1,949 | 8,569 | 22.7% |
Where carriers fall behind
MI has the highest overdue rate at 67.2%; CA the lowest at 22.6%. The federal requirement is identical in both. This study measures the gap — it does not explain it, and we would rather say so than offer a cause we have not tested.
Highest overdue rate
| MI | 52,451 / 78,005 | 67.2% |
| MN | 48,245 / 76,010 | 63.5% |
| AK | 4,096 / 6,578 | 62.3% |
| CO | 30,941 / 50,549 | 61.2% |
| NY | 78,604 / 129,357 | 60.8% |
| WI | 39,785 / 65,541 | 60.7% |
| AL | 20,817 / 35,573 | 58.5% |
| WA | 27,815 / 50,936 | 54.6% |
| FL | 85,227 / 156,576 | 54.4% |
| ME | 7,621 / 14,218 | 53.6% |
Lowest overdue rate
| CA | 74,170 / 328,483 | 22.6% |
| IL | 16,129 / 55,871 | 28.9% |
| RI | 1,249 / 4,275 | 29.2% |
| SD | 1,913 / 6,436 | 29.7% |
| NH | 1,856 / 6,119 | 30.3% |
49 US states and DC with at least 3,000 active carriers. Smaller jurisdictions are excluded so a handful of records cannot swing a rate.
Method
Stated in full so the result can be reproduced or disputed. A figure nobody can check is marketing, not research.
- Source.
- FMCSA Motor Carrier Census (data.transportation.gov, dataset az4n-8mr2). Public, no authentication.
- Population.
- All records with
status_code = 'A'(active) — 2,237,147 carriers. Inactive and pending records are excluded. - Overdue test.
mcs150_date < 2024-09-11, i.e. 24 months before the query date.- Why 24 months is conservative.
- Under 49 CFR 390.19 the due month is set by the last digit of the USDOT number and the year by the second-to-last, so due dates are spread across the calendar. Any filing older than 24 months has missed a full cycle whichever month applies. Carriers overdue by less than a full cycle are not counted, so the true figure is higher than 44.9%.
- Null handling.
- The 270,087 active records with no
mcs150_dateare reported separately and are not included in the overdue count. - Query date.
- 2026-09-11. The census changes daily; re-running later will not reproduce these counts exactly.
Related: our Safety Rating Gap 2026, which found 97.6% of this same population has no FMCSA safety rating at all.
Free to cite with attribution to Fleetive. If you find an error in the method, we want to hear about it — tell us and we will correct the page.
Check your own
If you run a truck, the number that matters is not 44.9% — it is whether yours is due. Our free MCS-150 due-date checker works it out from your USDOT number. Filing is free on the FMCSA portal; you do not need to pay anyone to do it.
Questions about this study
- What does "overdue" mean in this study?
- An active carrier whose most recent MCS-150 filing on the FMCSA census predates 2024-09-11 — 24 months before the query date. Because the biennial schedule is set by the last two digits of the USDOT number, a carrier's exact due month varies; a filing older than 24 months has missed at least one full cycle regardless of which month it falls in. That makes this a conservative floor, not an estimate.
- Why does it matter if the MCS-150 is overdue?
- FMCSA uses the MCS-150 to keep carrier records current, and failing to file can lead to the USDOT number being deactivated. An inactive USDOT number is a problem discovered at the worst possible moment — at a roadside inspection, or when a broker runs your authority before tendering a load.
- Is filing the MCS-150 free?
- Yes. The biennial update is filed free on the FMCSA portal. A number of paid services charge to file it for you; none of them are required, and nothing in this study should be read as suggesting otherwise.
- Can I reproduce these numbers?
- Yes, and that is the point. The method section gives the dataset, the exact filter and the query date. The underlying snapshot is committed alongside the page. Anyone can run the same query against the public FMCSA census and get the same result.
- Why is the rate so much higher for small carriers?
- This study measures the gap; it does not establish a cause. The pattern is consistent with a filing obligation that arrives every two years having no owner in a one- or two-truck operation, where there is no back office and the reminder does not exist. But that is an interpretation, and a reader is entitled to draw a different one from the same data.