Safety Scoring
What Is a Good CSA Score for a Trucking Company?
By Editorial Team · Updated September 12, 2026 · 8 min read · Editorial standards
On this page 6 sections
The recruiter says the fleet has a “great CSA.” You ask for the number. They give you one figure, or none, or a screenshot of a page you cannot read. What is a good CSA score for a trucking company is not a letter grade and not a single line on a job ad. It is a set of percentiles, one per BASIC, compared with FMCSA intervention thresholds for that type of carrier. This page is only that comparison — the numbers a driver can use before signing — not another explainer of how CSA is built. For the definition, use CSA score. For which login shows which screen, use CSA score lookup.
Rules change. Verify current requirements at fmcsa.dot.gov before you act on anything in this guide.
The only numbers that answer “good”
A CSA score is a percentile against similar carriers, not points out of 30 and not a driver’s personal grade. How that percentile is built — severity, recency, peer group — already lives on CSA score. Stay here for the cut line.
FMCSA uses those percentiles to decide who becomes an intervention priority: warning letters, extra roadside attention, then investigations. Cross the threshold in a BASIC and the carrier is on that list. Sit comfortably under it, with the measure not racing up, and the federal answer to “is this a good CSA score?” is yes for that BASIC.
For general property carriers, FMCSA’s current SMS methodology sets these intervention thresholds (verify on the SMS site; they are not a safety rating):
| BASIC | Intervention threshold (property) | What a driver should hear |
|---|---|---|
| Unsafe Driving | 65th percentile | Speeding, following too close, phone, lane. A 70 here is over the line. |
| Crash Indicator | 65th percentile | Pattern of reportable crashes. Often not public. |
| Hours-of-Service Compliance | 65th percentile | Logs, driving limits, ELD. A “we’re fine” with a 72 here is not fine. |
| Vehicle Maintenance | 80th percentile | Brakes, lights, tires, securement. A 70 here can still be under the federal line. |
| Controlled Substances/Alcohol | 80th percentile | Impairment and possession at roadside. |
| Hazardous Materials Compliance | 80th percentile | Placards, leaks, HM paperwork. Often not public for property carriers. |
| Driver Fitness | 80th percentile | License, medical certification, qualification-file gaps. |
Read the table twice. A 70 is not one thing. Seventy in Vehicle Maintenance can be under the 80th-percentile line. Seventy in Unsafe Driving is already past the 65th. If the recruiter will not say which BASIC, they have not answered the question.
Passenger carriers and some hazmat operations sit on lower (stricter) lines. Do not borrow the property table for a bus outfit or a dedicated HM fleet. Pull that USDOT on SMS and read the threshold printed for it.
What you do: write the seven names on paper. Next to each, write under / at / over — only if you have a percentile. Blank is an answer too.
The gotcha: “Our CSA is 40” with no BASIC named. Forty could be one clean category and a hidden crash percentile you cannot see.
How a driver reads the number before hiring on
You are not the safety director. You do not have the carrier’s USDOT PIN. You cannot open another company’s full private SMS. That split — public tools versus the PIN view — is how to check CSA data without a carrier login. Here you only need enough to test the offer.
1. Get the legal name and USDOT
Same habit as any other hiring call: the logo on the ad is not the file. Ask for the number on the door. If they will not give it, you cannot score the house. Questions that force a document are in questions to ask a trucking recruiter.
2. Open the public snapshot, not a Facebook badge
Run the USDOT on SAFER. Walk the fields with our SAFER score company lookup — authority, inspections, out-of-service rates, crashes, safety rating if one exists. That page is a profile, not a CSA percentile. Out-of-service rates next to the printed national average are the public substitute when SMS will not show the score.
Small fleets can look ugly off one bad inspection. Read the count of inspections, not only the rate.
3. Try the public SMS view — then stop expecting a full grade
From the snapshot you can jump to the SMS profile. For a property carrier, public display of some percentiles and alerts was limited. Crash Indicator and Hazardous Materials Compliance stay behind the carrier login. If the recruiter texts a screenshot of those two, they pulled it from inside the company. Ask for a date on the screenshot. SMS updates; a year-old PDF is a brochure.
4. Map every quoted number to a BASIC and a threshold
When they say “we’re at 55,” ask: “55 in which BASIC, on which USDOT, as of which SMS month?” Then put it against the table above. Under the line is the federal “not a priority” zone. Over the line means FMCSA already treats that category as a problem. “Trending up but still under” is a yellow flag for you even if it is not an alert yet.
5. Do not confuse CSA with your own file
You do not have a CSA score. Roadside events attach to the USDOT on the truck. Your personal inspection and crash extract is a PSP conversation, not this page. Carrier math versus driver records is covered in PSP and CSA data.
What “good” still hides
FMCSA threshold is not a shipper threshold. Large brokers screen carriers against CSA data and often draw a harder line than the 65th or 80th percentile. A house can be under intervention and still lose freight. You will not get that rejection letter. You will get a dry board.
A Satisfactory safety rating is not a CSA score. The rating is a separate fitness result from an investigation. Many active fleets have no rating. Do not let a recruiter swap “Satisfactory” for “our BASICs are clean.”
Public silence is not a clean crash BASIC. If Crash Indicator is hidden, the snapshot’s 24-month crash counts are what you have. Fatal, injury, and towaway totals without context still beat a slogan.
The score does not tell you how the desk treats you. Forced dispatch, unpaid sitting, a bait-and-switch lease — none of that is a BASIC. After you read the numbers, search what past drivers reported about the same USDOT. Search does not require buying a full report.
If you already worked there and the pitch did not match the first month, add a review so the next driver is not guessing from a percentile.
Improving a carrier’s numbers is the safety manager’s job, not yours as an applicant. That playbook is how to improve CSA score. Do not take a seat to “help them get the score down.”
A one-sentence test
A good CSA score for a trucking company, for you, is: every BASIC they will name sits under the property (or passenger, or HM) intervention line on current SMS, the two hidden BASICs are not being used as a dodge, the SAFER snapshot does not contradict the pitch, and you still want the clock and the pay. Fail any one of those and the number on the call is advertising.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good CSA score for a trucking company?
There is no single gold-star number. For a general property carrier, a good reading is each BASIC percentile under its FMCSA intervention threshold — the 65th percentile for Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator, and Hours-of-Service Compliance, and the 80th percentile for the other four — with no sharp climb. Confirm the line for that USDOT on SMS.
Is a lower CSA score better?
Yes. Percentiles run 0 to 100 and higher is worse. A 12 is cleaner than a 60. Do not treat it like a test score where 90 is an A.
What CSA number is too high?
Any BASIC at or above its intervention threshold is too high for federal priority purposes. On a property carrier, that is the 65th percentile in Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator, or HOS, and the 80th percentile in Vehicle Maintenance, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Hazardous Materials Compliance, or Driver Fitness. Brokers may treat a lower number as already too high.
Can I see every BASIC before I hire on?
No. For property carriers, Crash Indicator and Hazardous Materials Compliance percentiles are not on the public page. You can still read inspection and crash counts on the Company Snapshot. If a recruiter will not name those two, treat them as unknown, not as clean.
Do I have a personal CSA score?
No. CSA scores the carrier. Your roadside history is not a CSA grade. Do not let a job post tell you to “bring your CSA.”
If they are under the threshold, is the company safe to hire onto?
Not automatically. Under the line means they are not an FMCSA intervention priority in that BASIC. It does not grade dispatch, home time, or equipment age. Use the snapshot, the offer letter, and peer write-ups together.
What should I ask if the recruiter says “our CSA is good”?
Ask for the USDOT, each BASIC percentile, the SMS month, and whether Crash Indicator is over the 65th percentile. If they only quote Vehicle Maintenance, ask for Unsafe Driving and HOS next.
Where do I look if I only have a company name?
Search the name on SAFER, confirm you have the right legal name, then read the snapshot with the SAFER lookup. Name search can return lookalikes. Prefer the USDOT.