Freight Class List: All 18 Classes and the 2025 Changes

Freight class is the backbone of LTL pricing: an NMFC classification from 50 to 500 that tells carriers how much space, handling, and risk your shipment represents relative to its weight. Lower class, cheaper freight; higher class, more expensive. Put the wrong one on the bill of lading and the carrier corrects it after pickup — at your expense.

The class list itself was overhauled in 2025, when the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) moved most general freight to density-based classification. This guide lays out the full class list, the density scale that now assigns class for most shipments, and what the restructure means in practice.

The 18 freight classes at a glance

The NMFC uses 18 classes: 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 77.5, 85, 92.5, 100, 110, 125, 150, 175, 200, 250, 300, 400, and 500. Class 50 is the densest, cheapest-to-ship end of the scale — think compact, heavy, durable freight. Class 500 is the opposite extreme: extremely light for its bulk or otherwise costly to transport. As a rough rule, the class number tracks how much trailer space a hundred pounds of your freight consumes.

Since the 2025 restructure, most of these classes are assigned through a density scale — but not all 18 appear on it. Classes 77.5, 110, 150, 200, and 500 exist in the NMFC without being part of the current density tiers; they apply through specific commodity listings rather than a density band. If your freight lands on one of those classes, it's coming from its NMFC item, not from the density math.

The 13-tier density scale (in effect since July 2025)

For freight classified by density, class comes from pounds per cubic foot (PCF): total weight divided by total cubic feet of the shipment as it ships, pallet included. The 13-sub scale below took effect with the NMFTA's Docket 2025-1 changes on July 19, 2025 — always confirm current breaks against the NMFC or your carrier, as dockets continue to amend listings:

50 PCF or greater: class 50
35 to under 50 PCF: class 55
30 to under 35 PCF: class 60
22.5 to under 30 PCF: class 65
15 to under 22.5 PCF: class 70
12 to under 15 PCF: class 85
10 to under 12 PCF: class 92.5
8 to under 10 PCF: class 100
6 to under 8 PCF: class 125
4 to under 6 PCF: class 175
2 to under 4 PCF: class 250
1 to under 2 PCF: class 300, and under 1 PCF: class 400

Note the shape of the scale: the bands are narrow in the middle, where most palletized freight lives, and the price difference between adjacent classes is real. A shipment at 7.9 PCF (class 125) and one at 8.1 PCF (class 100) are nearly identical physically but priced a class apart — which is why measuring accurately, and knowing how close you are to a break, is worth actual money.

Tip The exact sub-provision boundaries live in the NMFC itself, and individual items can carve out their own rules. Use the scale above for orientation, and verify against the current NMFC (via NMFTA's ClassIT tool or your carrier) before printing it on a BOL.

What the 2025 NMFC restructure actually changed

The NMFTA's Docket 2025-1, effective July 19, 2025, was the largest classification overhaul in decades. The headline changes:

Density-first classing: freight without meaningful handling, stowability, or liability issues moved from commodity-specific classes to straight density-based classification.
The density scale expanded from 11 tiers to 13, adding classes 50 and 55 at the dense end — meaning very heavy, compact freight can now rate cheaper than the old scale allowed.
Roughly 2,000 commodity listings were consolidated or modernized in the first docket alone, collapsing many hyper-specific item numbers into generalized, density-rated listings.
A follow-on docket (Docket 2025-2, announced August 2025) continued the restructuring, and the NMFTA has signaled ongoing docket cycles — the classification your product had in 2024 may simply no longer exist in that form.

The practical consequence for shippers: the old shortcut of memorizing 'our product is class 70' broke. If your commodity moved to density-based classing, your class now changes whenever your packaging, pallet pattern, or carton count changes the density — the same product can legitimately ship at different classes in different configurations. Freight with genuine special characteristics (fragile, hazardous, unusually shaped, high theft value) can still be classed by those factors regardless of density.

How to use the class list without getting burned

Start with your NMFC item: look up the commodity in the current NMFC (ClassIT) or ask your carrier rep — this tells you whether your freight is density-rated or carries its own classing rules.
If it's density-rated, measure the real shipment: full dimensions at the extreme points including pallet and overhang, and the as-shipped weight including packaging.
Compute PCF and read the class off the current density scale.
Check your distance to the nearest break — if you're within about half a PCF of a cheaper band, packaging changes may pay for themselves immediately.
Document the numbers on a dated worksheet and carry accurate dims, weight, and the NMFC item on the BOL, so a carrier inspection confirms your class instead of correcting it.

Common questions

Did the class numbers themselves change in 2025?

The 18-class structure remains, and the density scale was expanded to 13 tiers reaching down to class 50. What changed most is how a shipment gets its class: thousands of commodity listings moved to density-based classing, so the path to the number changed even where the numbers didn't.

Is class 500 still used?

Class 500 still exists in the NMFC, but it sits outside the current density scale — it applies through specific commodity listings rather than a density band, typically for extreme cases of low density or high risk. Most shippers will never touch it.

My product shipped as class 70 for years. Can I keep using it?

Not safely, if its listing was restructured. Look the item up in the current NMFC: if it moved to density-based classing, your class is now whatever your as-shipped density says, and carriers' dimensioners will enforce that. Continuing to paper the old class is the most common way shippers discovered the 2025 changes — via reclass fees.

Where do I find the official, current classification?

The NMFC is published by the NMFTA; ClassIT is their lookup tool (subscription-based), and carriers and many 3PLs can confirm classifications for you. Third-party class charts — including any summary list like the one above — are orientation aids, not the authority.