Ranked CDL Schools in California 2026

Academy of Truck Driving runs one Oakland campus at the former Oakland Army Base near the Port of Oakland. Its 2026 Class A program costs $7,615 and allows up to 160 hours. Published cohorts use four-hour morning or afternoon weekday blocks for about ten weeks, while evening and weekend sessions can be arranged. Theory combines an online platform, classroom instruction, and home study before students move into inspections, backing, docking, coupling, and road work. The school has manual and automatic Class A tractors with 28-foot trailers. Classrooms are capped at ten students, and range groups can have up to four students per vehicle. The enrollment agreement describes scheduled vehicle blocks with no more than two students and one instructor. The school supports up to three DMV appointments. It waives the first appointment fee, while each later appointment costs $350.

Advanced Career Institute is a family-owned career school operated by Barry, David, and Matthew Bither. Its Fresno campus offers two Class A routes: a 160-hour Professional Truck Driver course completed in four weeks for $5,995, and a 240-hour Advanced Professional Truck Driver course completed in six weeks for $7,012.50. Day classes run from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., while evening classes run from 4:30 to 9 p.m., with new starts scheduled throughout the year. Listed costs include books and materials, a drug screen, DOT physical, and Class A permit and endorsement preparation. CDL retests cost extra. Qualified Fresno students can pursue federal aid, Pell Grants, workforce funding, veterans benefits, employer support, scholarships, loans, or payment plans.

AGT Trucking School is a Los Angeles-area private driving school led by owner and instructor Ada Gonzalez. The 2026 catalog identifies a 180-hour Class A CDL course priced at $4,300, including tuition, registration, and materials. Students work through permit preparation, ELDT theory, pretrip inspection, basic controls, and public-road driving, then receive DMV appointment scheduling and truck rental for as many as three test attempts. The catalog spreads 35 sessions across a student-selected pace of at least two meetings each week, with completion allowed up to 25 weeks. AGT also trains for Class B and passenger credentials, restriction removal, and endorsement work. Check the assigned office and driving-range address before your first session because its current records name several sites.

America Truck Driving School combines a classroom and resource center with about one acre of practice yard at its Riverside campus, then takes students onto Corona streets and freeways. The locally owned school offers individually scheduled Class A or Class B courses in 56-, 76-, and 92-hour formats. Its longer Class A course runs 200 hours over six weeks in a small group, with 80 hours assigned to range work and another 80 to road driving. The catalog lists mostly manual International day cabs, plus a ten-speed sleeper, box trailers, and a bus. Individual sessions can be booked in two-hour blocks Monday through Saturday. America also schedules a graduate's first DMV test and supplies the testing vehicle. All prices and schedules here carry the catalog's 2025 date.

MTS Training Academy's Sacramento branch publishes a 160-hour hybrid Class A Truck Driver program with a four-to-one student-to-instructor ratio. Its 2025-26 catalog lists an $8,298 ETPL total, combining $7,500 tuition, $448 in fees, and $350 for books. Enrollment is open, classes begin monthly, and each student receives a schedule during enrollment. Sacramento equipment includes two 10-speed Freightliner Cascadias, 28-foot and 24-foot dry vans, and a 78-passenger school bus. MTS also lists Class B, passenger, school-bus, and VTT routes, plus a Michael's Transportation apprenticeship with 320 hours of related instruction and 2,150 hours of on-the-job training. Eligible students may pursue VA, workforce, or vocational-rehabilitation funding.

United teaches theory at its Camino Del Rio South campus and conducts driving practice at a separate yard in Santee. The current Class A course runs 160 hours over four weeks, starts every other week, and costs $7,595. You train in a group using Freightliner conventional tractors with manual or automatic transmissions and full-size dry-van trailers. Coursework moves from permit subjects into inspections, backing, docking, coupling, observation, and public-road driving. Because group hours include observation, ask how individual wheel time is assigned. The tuition includes three CDL test attempts. United may schedule day, evening, or weekend driving as equipment and student progress require. You also need a mobile device for its online training modules. Manual students who miss the school's progress standards may be moved into automatic training.

Western Pacific has trained commercial drivers since 1977 and operates its Sacramento school through Nordic Enterprises, Inc. The entry-level Class A program runs 160 clock hours, split into 40 hours of theory and 120 hours of field training. The four-week day schedule starts with one week from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., followed by three weeks from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Its seven-week hybrid and night option keeps that first week in the daytime, then moves practical work to 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuition totals $8,500 and includes registration, DMV fees, drug screening, a physical, materials, and two practical-test attempts. Field groups average four or five students and can reach six per instructor, so decide whether that amount of vehicle sharing works for you.

160 Driving Academy runs its Sacramento office and training yard from the same Juliesse Avenue address. The Class A course takes four full weeks. You spend the first week on rules, safety, inspections, trip planning, and logs, then move into three weeks of range and road practice covering backing, parking, turning, and traffic handling. The campus lists weekday hours from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. California's 2024 BPPE report records a $4,503 total charge for Truck Driver Training, while the company's October 2025 cost guide places its 160-hour courses in a $4,000 to $6,000 range by location. The Sacramento branch also reports HazMat, automatic-restriction removal, and refresher training. Ask for the current Sacramento total in your dated enrollment agreement.

GSF runs its Los Angeles CDL training from a 40,000-square-foot site with classroom, yard, and road-training space. The family-owned school says it has served Southern California since 1999. Its 2026 catalog gives you three entry-level choices: a 180-hour Complete Class A course, a 160-hour Complete Class B-P course, and a 240-hour combination course. Theory can be completed through Canvas and live Zoom or in a traditional classroom before you move to in-person inspections, backing, coupling, and public-road work. Training is available from early morning through evening on weekdays and during the day Saturday. Published behind-the-wheel groups range from one to three students, so ask which ratio applies to your scheduled sessions.

P. Steve Ramirez Vocational Training Centers teaches its Class A program at a dedicated yard on South Arthur Avenue rather than at its Shaw Avenue administrative office. The 2026 course runs 160 hours over four weeks and costs $4,500, including registration and materials. Week one covers classroom and permit preparation. The remaining 120 hours move into field training, with 80 hours assigned to range and skills and 40 to road work, including observation. Students practice inspections, double-clutch shifting, backing, coupling, city and highway driving, grades, braking, bobtail operation, and doubles using cab-over and conventional tractors with different trailers. Workforce sponsorship, Proteus grants, WIOA, and workers' compensation vouchers can apply, but you need to secure agency approval before enrollment. Confirm the training-yard address because the FMCSA record retains the Commerce Avenue location.

At Truck Master School's Fontana branch, the live paid-in-full product lists $2,400 for the school's 160-hour PRO CDL program. The regular plan totals $2,500 through a $1,000 opening payment and three $500 biweekly installments. Training is listed as a six-to-eight-week Class A route, with weekday morning and afternoon blocks, evening sessions on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and a Saturday option. Students practice permit material, inspections, parking, and road driving before the school schedules a DMV appointment. The curriculum also prepares students for doubles/triples, tanker, and HazMat endorsements. Truck Master describes 10-speed manual training, an important equipment detail when comparing programs that use automatic-only test vehicles.

Truck Master School's Hayward branch uses the company's 160-hour PRO CDL curriculum for Class A preparation. Published training runs six to eight weeks and can be scheduled in weekday morning or afternoon blocks, a three-evening format, or Saturday sessions. The course covers permit preparation, inspections, parking, public-road driving, DMV appointment support, and doubles/triples, tanker, and HazMat endorsement preparation. A current school article identifies the training truck as a 10-speed manual, useful if you want to avoid testing only in an automatic. The standard price is $2,500, with a $2,400 paid-in-full option. Students using installments pay $1,000 initially and three $500 biweekly payments, with the account due before DMV testing.

J&R Trucking School, founded by Juan and Rafa, separates its Fresno Class A training by prior experience. The 48-hour Standard Tractor/Trailer course costs $4,500 and is intended for drivers who already have some tractor-trailer experience. The 160-hour Advanced course costs $7,000 and starts with permit preparation before inspections, range skills, and public-road work. Both totals combine tuition, registration, and other program charges. The Fresno site describes a 2.49-acre property with about one marked acre used for backing lanes and parking bays, while Advanced on-road sessions carry no more than three students in the vehicle. J&R publishes interest-free monthly payments, workforce vouchers, and an Amazon Career Choice route for eligible employees.

Covenant Truck School runs one-to-one Class A instruction from its Los Angeles location. Its current program pages list 150 hours for $2,100, with training in safety, air brakes, pretrip inspection, tractor-trailer controls, range maneuvers, and public-road driving. Students can train in a 10-speed manual day cab with a 28-foot trailer or request automatic equipment. The package includes up to three Gardena DMV test sessions with the school vehicle, but the published price excludes DMV charges, the DOT physical, and online theory. Covenant's federal registry also covers Class B, passenger, school-bus, and HazMat-theory training, giving students more endorsement and license-class options than the Class A page alone shows.

Felipe's Truck Driving School provides one-to-one Class A instruction in San Diego with both manual and automatic trucks. Training covers pretrip inspection, maneuvers, and public-road driving, and the school schedules the DMV test when you are ready. Published training windows include weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday evening sessions from 4 p.m. to midnight, and Saturday hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The school also teaches Class B, commercial Class C passenger, Class B-to-A upgrades, manual-restriction removal, and refresher courses. Founder Felipe Mokay reports 52 years of driving experience. Students can use the school's interest-free payment plan or apply through Climb, subject to the provider's terms.

Fremont Truck & Bus Driving School trains at a Hayward yard and posts package prices that include its listed taxes and fees. Class A costs $2,200 with an automatic truck or $2,500 with a manual truck. A Class B-to-A upgrade costs $2,000 automatic or $2,200 manual, while Class B and Class B-passenger packages each cost $1,800. The school advertises seven-day scheduling, extended hours, manual and automatic equipment, and supervised hands-on work in a controlled setting. Its Bay Area training description includes freeway, urban, industrial, and port-route driving. The enrollment terms say schedules, instructors, vehicles, and curriculum can change, and they treat listed fees and tuition deposits as non-refundable except where California law requires otherwise. Put the exact hours, road time, test attempts, calendar, and refund terms in your signed agreement.