Only 15.5% of registered CDL training locations accept public enrollment

Q: Does a registered training location accept the public?

Not necessarily. FMCSA's Training Provider Registry includes a "Private Enrollment Only" field that providers fill out at registration. Under 49 CFR 380.605, a "Private Training Provider" is defined as a motor carrier training its own employees only. Nationwide, about 84.5% of registered locations are marked private enrollment only.

Q: Is a registered location the same as a company?

No. One training provider can register multiple locations. Nationwide, 28,401 registered locations belong to only 17,117 distinct provider names, meaning a meaningful share of providers operate more than one location, and a handful of large employers and government agencies account for a disproportionate number of registrations.

Q: Is this "private enrollment only" status verified by FMCSA?

No. It is self-certified by the training provider at the time of registration, not independently audited by FMCSA. Always confirm directly with a provider that they accept outside applicants before assuming you can enroll.

Of the 28,401 locations on the FMCSA Training Provider Registry, 23,999 are registered as "private enrollment only," meaning a motor carrier, government agency, or employer training its own staff, not a CDL school taking outside students.

This is a state-by-state analysis of FMCSA's own public Training Provider Registry data, the same registry ELDT.IO's Behind-the-Wheel directory is built from. It separates three things the registry itself distinguishes but a raw location count hides: how many locations are registered, how many belong to the same company, and how many are actually registered to train the public rather than an employer's own staff.

Methodology

Source: FMCSA's public Training Provider Registry export (tpr.fmcsa.dot.gov), refreshed on this site nightly. Figures below reflect the registry as of October 18, 2026, and cover active, in-person locations only (closed or removed listings are excluded).

Location vs. company. A single training provider can register more than one location. Nationwide, 28,401 registered locations belong to just 17,117 distinct provider names, so a state's location count overstates how many separate businesses actually operate there.

Registration is not public access. The registry's own "Private Enrollment Only" field, defined by 49 CFR 380.605 as a "Private Training Provider... a motor carrier training its own employees only," is how we identify which registered locations accept outside applicants at all. This field is self-certified by the provider at registration, not independently audited by FMCSA, so "public enrollment" below means "registered as public enrollment," not a guarantee of acceptance. Confirm directly with any provider before assuming you can enroll.

"Public enrollment" figures for each training type (Class A, Class B, Passenger, School Bus behind-the-wheel, and Hazmat theory) count only locations that are both registered as public enrollment and flagged as offering that specific training.

What the national numbers show

Nationwide, 4,392 of 28,401 registered locations (15.5%) accept public enrollment. The other 23,999 are registered as private enrollment only, most commonly school-bus contractors, state transportation departments, and private employers training their own drivers.

Public-enrollment share varies enormously by state. Ohio is lowest among the 50 states at 3.8% (65 of 1,724 locations), followed by Rhode Island (4.7%), Kansas (6.1%), Vermont (6.7%), and Michigan (6.8%). Louisiana (35.8%), Mississippi (34.5%), New Mexico (31.7%), and Hawaii (30.7%) have the highest public-enrollment share among the states. The District of Columbia is an outlier at 60%, on a small base of 5 total locations.

Class A is the most consequential gap to check before assuming a nearby registered location can actually train you: Rhode Island has only 2 public-enrollment Class A behind-the-wheel locations out of 86 registered statewide (2.3%), and Ohio has 58 out of 1,724 (3.4%). A long registry list for a state does not mean Class A behind-the-wheel training is actually easy to find there.

State	Registered locations	Distinct companies	Public enrollment	% public enrollment	Class A BTW	Class B BTW	Passenger BTW	School Bus BTW	Hazmat theory
Alabama	392	302	78	19.9%	59	68	49	38	33
Alaska	91	54	12	13.2%	12	12	10	0	8
Arizona	390	275	79	20.3%	42	68	51	45	19
Arkansas	443	370	69	15.6%	46	55	42	39	25
California	2,005	1,254	500	24.9%	296	394	295	204	163
Colorado	417	311	69	16.5%	48	61	52	49	32
Connecticut	172	77	18	10.5%	7	18	14	11	5
Delaware	76	60	15	19.7%	14	8	6	2	8
District of Columbia	5	5	3	60.0%	2	3	3	2	2
Florida	485	305	126	26.0%	99	94	60	50	36
Georgia	539	398	97	18.0%	83	57	29	31	35
Hawaii	101	70	31	30.7%	28	23	12	7	18
Idaho	391	295	42	10.7%	34	35	22	20	18
Illinois	1,662	1,194	126	7.6%	92	52	19	15	65
Indiana	791	597	178	22.5%	98	141	116	108	54
Iowa	326	216	59	18.1%	48	55	44	38	36
Kansas	818	582	50	6.1%	45	42	28	24	24
Kentucky	534	372	85	15.9%	61	66	40	33	37
Louisiana	229	156	82	35.8%	61	72	55	53	51
Maine	416	354	46	11.1%	30	31	22	22	14
Maryland	386	258	82	21.2%	61	74	47	40	40
Massachusetts	366	235	35	9.6%	16	31	24	17	8
Michigan	820	582	56	6.8%	53	38	24	20	28
Minnesota	750	545	57	7.6%	43	46	38	32	25
Mississippi	348	255	120	34.5%	79	85	63	59	32
Missouri	908	549	113	12.4%	77	93	70	65	39
Montana	391	280	74	18.9%	49	52	44	37	15
Nebraska	359	273	53	14.8%	44	41	22	21	20
Nevada	140	91	27	19.3%	24	12	8	2	13
New Hampshire	256	170	19	7.4%	18	17	8	6	9
New Jersey	792	631	203	25.6%	71	159	170	156	51
New Mexico	183	152	58	31.7%	31	46	40	26	24
New York	1,700	964	182	10.7%	101	171	128	125	58
North Carolina	797	354	103	12.9%	94	69	30	9	42
North Dakota	459	384	31	6.8%	24	27	19	17	11
Ohio	1,724	680	65	3.8%	58	42	23	11	38
Oklahoma	385	236	107	27.8%	62	79	68	64	51
Oregon	498	346	56	11.2%	34	45	31	22	22
Pennsylvania	978	610	141	14.4%	74	110	82	69	47
Rhode Island	86	63	4	4.7%	2	4	3	2	2
South Carolina	345	238	60	17.4%	49	42	26	22	28
South Dakota	206	164	36	17.5%	25	29	19	19	10
Tennessee	502	374	92	18.3%	56	66	53	42	24
Texas	1,656	1,122	385	23.2%	318	314	224	198	221
Utah	381	278	74	19.4%	68	50	32	19	25
Vermont	195	153	13	6.7%	8	10	6	5	4
Virginia	496	316	108	21.8%	64	83	65	41	32
Washington	631	513	134	21.2%	74	110	86	76	41
West Virginia	253	186	43	17.0%	34	31	20	16	23
Wisconsin	883	591	70	7.9%	62	50	29	24	36
Wyoming	240	144	26	10.8%	26	26	14	13	19

"Public enrollment" and the five training-type columns count only locations registered as NOT private-enrollment-only. Two locations outside the 50 states and DC (3 in Puerto Rico, 1 cross-border listing) are excluded from this table but included in the national totals above.

Looking for a training location near you? ELDT.IO's state-by-state directory lists every registered location with contact details, searchable by city. This report is the analysis; that page is the lookup tool.

Questions about this data

Does a registered training location accept the public?

Not necessarily. FMCSA's registry includes a "Private Enrollment Only" field providers fill out at registration. Under 49 CFR 380.605, a "Private Training Provider" is a motor carrier training its own employees only. Nationwide, about 84.5% of registered locations are marked private enrollment only.

Is a registered location the same as a company?

No. One provider can register multiple locations. Nationwide, 28,401 registered locations belong to only 17,117 distinct provider names.

Is "private enrollment only" status verified by FMCSA?

No. It is self-certified by the provider at registration, not independently audited by FMCSA. Confirm directly with a provider that they accept outside applicants before assuming you can enroll.

Where does this data come from?

FMCSA's public Training Provider Registry export, the same source used to build ELDT.IO's Behind-the-Wheel directory. Refreshed nightly; figures on this page reflect the registry as of October 18, 2026.