How long is CDL school?

How long CDL programs run

51% of programs run 4 weeks or less and 27% run 8 weeks or more. We counted the CDL programs on state approved training lists that report a length in weeks and a posted tuition, and joined each with its tuition.

Source: US Dept. of Labor TrainingProviderResults.gov, DownloadPrograms.xlsx, downloaded Oct 5, 2026. n = 1,050 programs. Tuition is the posted price of the same rows.

Registry check: 619 of the 1,050 programs match a school that is active and open to the public on FMCSA's registry. Their median is also 4 weeks, with the middle half at 4 to 8 weeks. The other 431 are at providers we could not match to an open registry school, so look each one up in the registry before you rely on its posted length.

Posted tuition does not climb with length: the median is $5,000 at 3 to 4 weeks, $4,960 at 5 to 8, $4,748 at 9 to 12 and $5,198 at 13 to 26. The shortest band, 1 to 2 weeks, is the cheapest ($3,561), and it mixes full Class A courses with upgrade, passenger bus and theory-only courses. Our cost page has posted tuition by state.

How many hours is CDL training?

A typical CDL program is about 160 hours: the median program reports 40 hours a week for 4 weeks, and the middle half work out to 120 to 210 hours. 47% of programs report exactly 40 hours a week, which is eight hours a day over five days.

A note on the hours column: the data dictionary describes that field as the program's length in clock or contact hours, but we read it as hours a week. Of the 93 programs whose names state a total (for example "160 Hours"), hours times weeks matches the name in 70 and the field on its own matches in 12 (the 10 that fit both readings are all one-week courses). Treat the 160-hour total as an estimate.

FMCSA does not set the length. Its summary of the entry-level driver training rule says there is no required minimum number of instruction hours. Theory training ends with an assessment that needs a score of at least 80%, and behind-the-wheel training is complete when the instructor documents that the trainee has shown proficiency; the instructor records the clock hours spent, but no minimum applies. States may add requirements of their own.

How long is CDL school in your state?

Medians run from 3 weeks to 21 weeks among the 36 states with at least 5 programs that report a length. Colorado's 10 programs post 3 to 32 weeks and Minnesota's 17 programs post 15 to 30 weeks, which pulls their medians up. Another 10 have fewer than 5 programs each (Arizona, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming), so we show no median for them. Delaware, Maine, New Jersey, Ohio and West Virginia have no program in this count.

A state's row counts only programs that also post a usable tuition. Illinois's row counts 7 of the 94 programs the state lists with a length, and across all 94 the median is 6 weeks with 29% at 4 weeks or less. New York's row counts 38 of the 104 programs the state lists with a length, and across all 104 the median is 3 weeks with 60% at 4 weeks or less. The other states in the table have most of their programs counted.

Source: TrainingProviderResults.gov programs, Oct 5, 2026. A state's median reflects who its list includes: lists carry programs a state approved for WIOA workforce money.

Do college programs take longer than private schools?

Public and associate's-degree programs do, by about 2 weeks. Private for-profit schools post a median of 4 weeks (477 programs). Public programs post 6 weeks (128) and associate's-degree programs post 6 weeks (139). College certificate programs (90) post 4.5 weeks, so the gap sits in public and degree programs. Public programs also post the lowest median tuition ($3,500).

Source: TrainingProviderResults.gov programs, Oct 5, 2026. Types are the entity type each school reported; groups under 20 programs are left out.

Examples at each length

Of the programs whose names say Class A, 40 post 2 weeks or less, and 9 of those are upgrade, theory-only or similar courses by name, so read the program name before you compare lengths. The 565 programs whose names say Class A have a median of 4 weeks, with the middle half at 4 to 6 weeks, close to all CDL programs.

Source: TrainingProviderResults.gov programs, Oct 5, 2026. Picked by rule, not recommended: at each length, the Class A program whose posted price is closest to the national median ($4,900). Only programs that post 10 to 40 hours a week under a name the file did not cut off, at a school with an active registry location in the same place, are considered. Confirm length and price with the school.

How long does it take to get a CDL?

You can take the skills test once two things are true: 14 days have passed since the permit was issued, and entry-level driver training is finished. For the median program (4 weeks), the training is the longer wait. The rules behind that:

• A commercial learner's permit (CLP) comes first: it is a precondition to the first CDL and valid for no more than one year from issue (49 CFR § 383.25(c) and (d)).
• The CLP holder cannot take the CDL skills test in the first 14 days after the permit is issued (49 CFR § 383.25(e)), so even a one-week course leaves at least 14 days between permit and test.
• Anyone applying for a first Class A or Class B CDL must complete entry-level driver training (ELDT) from a provider listed on FMCSA's Training Provider Registry (49 CFR § 380.609(a)). The theory and behind-the-wheel parts must be finished within one year of each other. Search the registry for a school before you pay.

The knowledge test, the medical exam and the skills test are scheduled by each state, and those waits are not in any file we use.

Limits: what these numbers leave out

The lists cover programs a state approved for WIOA workforce money, so they lean toward community colleges and larger private schools; a school that is not on a list can run shorter or longer. We started from the 1,551 CDL programs behind the cost page. We dropped 78 refresher courses (they are for drivers who already hold a CDL) and 38 rows whose names do not read like driving programs (for example "Computer Programming AAS" and "Cement Mixer Training"). We also dropped 14 that post 52 weeks or more. Of those, 5 type the hours from the program title into the weeks field ("Tractor Trailer Training/Local - 80 Hours" posts 80 weeks), and the rest are long college programs or look like entry mistakes. Another 371 report no fixed length because the file marks them competency-based. That leaves 1,050. A further 242 CDL programs report a length but no usable tuition (blank, $0 or a figure outside $1,000 to $30,000), so they are not counted. Their median is also 4 weeks, with the middle half at 1 to 8 weeks.

The file asks for length "as completed by a full-time student", so part-time and weekend programs take longer than the posted figure. Long programs pull the average up (the mean is 6.5 weeks), so this page reports medians and middle ranges. Colorado's list posts 50 hours a week on every row, so read that state's numbers with care. A program's length is what the school reported to the state. Check the school's registry status and confirm the schedule with it.

Next: how to get a CDL, what CDL school costs, free CDL training and CDL schools by state.

Sources

• US Dept. of Labor, TrainingProviderResults.gov: DownloadPrograms.xlsx, the program lengths, hours a week and posted tuition above. Downloaded Oct 5, 2026.
• FMCSA Training Provider Registry location file, pulled Oct 5, 2026: the match of programs to active registry schools used in the registry check and the examples.
• TrainingProviderResults.gov Data Dictionary, version 4.0 (updated May 15, 2024): length in weeks is "as completed by a full-time student", the hours field is described as clock or contact hours, and a value of -1 marks a competency-based program. Checked Oct 7, 2026.
• FMCSA, Minimum Training Requirements for Entry-Level Commercial Motor Vehicle Operators (April 2023): no required minimum number of instruction hours, the 80% theory assessment, training before the skills test. Checked Oct 7, 2026.
• 49 CFR § 383.25, commercial learner's permit and 49 CFR § 380.609: the 14-day wait, one-year validity and the registry requirement. Text current as of Oct 1, 2026, checked Oct 7, 2026.

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