Best SUVs for Towing in 2026: Ranked by Real-World Capability

Full-size body-on-frame SUVs share a ladder frame with their pickup siblings, which is what lets them resist the vertical twisting a loaded hitch applies. Every tow rating and dimension below is the manufacturer's own published figure for the model year named — check the year, because several of these changed generation recently and older figures are still widely quoted.

Three of those figures are commonly published wrong elsewhere, including in earlier versions of this page, and the errors all run the same direction — they flatter the vehicle:

• The Suburban is 8,200 lb, not 8,300. No 8,300 lb figure appears in Chevrolet's 2026 trailering guide.
• The Expedition MAX is 9,000 lb, not 9,300. The 9,300-class number belongs to the short-wheelbase Expedition, not the MAX. Ford redesigned the Expedition for MY2025, and the older 131.6 in wheelbase figure belongs to the 2018–2024 car.
• The Tahoe's wheelbase is 120.9 in, not 116. The 116 in figure is the 2015–2020 Tahoe — a full generation out of date, and it matters here because wheelbase is one of the stability inputs this guide asks you to weigh.

On payload, whether a figure can be quoted depends entirely on the manufacturer. GM, Ford, Kia and Hyundai publish no trim payload at all — Ford's own spec sheet simply points you to the doorjamb label "for carrying capacity of a specific vehicle". For those brands, an article quoting "typical payload 1,490–1,620 lb" for a Suburban is presenting an estimate as though it were a specification, and this page will not repeat it. The figure that governs your setup is on the yellow placard in your own driver's door.

Stellantis and Toyota do publish payload tables, so where a sourced figure exists we use it. The 2026 Sequoia is listed at 1,375–1,730 lb by trim — well above the 1,215 lb widely quoted for it.

Unibody SUVs have no separate ladder frame, so hitch loads feed into the body structure and the independent rear suspension. They can carry impressive tow ratings; what they generally do not carry is the payload to use them with a family aboard.

Two corrections worth naming, because the older figures are still everywhere:

• The Durango's 8,700 lb is real but the trim attribution usually is not. It needs the GT HEMI with Tow N Go — and the Citadel trim, to which this rating is often attributed, no longer exists in the 2026 lineup.
• The Telluride and Palisade wheelbase is 116.9 in, not 114.2. The 114.2 in figure belongs to the 2020–2025 cars. Both were redesigned. One more wrinkle: on the 2025 Telluride the X-PRO trims were rated 5,500 lb, so even "max 5,000 lb" understated that model year.

Where a payload figure genuinely exists, here it is. Stellantis publishes one: the Durango is listed at 1,220–1,590 lb by configuration. That is materially higher than the 1,080–1,200 lb this page used to print — and the old figure also propped up a claim that the Durango had the lowest payload of any large SUV here, which is false. The Grand Cherokee in the next tier is published lower, at 1,160 lb.

Why this tier is the trap. A tow rating of 8,700 lb on a Durango does not mean a Durango tows 8,700 lb with your family in it. At a 13% planning share, an 8,700 lb trailer puts roughly 1,130 lb on the hitch — before a single passenger, bag or hitch head is counted. Whether that fits is decided by the placard in your door. With the Durango's published 1,220–1,590 lb payload range, even the top of the range leaves about 460 lb after an 1,130 lb tongue, before anyone gets in. That is the arithmetic this guide exists to make you run.

Mid-size SUVs are marketed hard for towing and carry the tightest real limits of any category: short wheelbases, modest payload, and unibody structures that settle quickly under tongue weight.

Three claims in wide circulation that no longer hold:

• The Grand Cherokee does not tow 7,200 lb. That figure belonged to the previous generation with the 5.7L HEMI, an engine not offered in the 2026 Grand Cherokee. The current maximum is 6,200 lb — a thousand pounds lower, which is more than enough to turn a safe plan into an overloaded one.
• The Explorer does not tow 5,600 lb. That was the 2024 car with the 3.0L EcoBoost V6. Every 2026 Explorer trim is rated 5,000 lb.
• There is no V6 Highlander. Toyota replaced it with a 2.4L turbo four for MY2023. The 5,000 lb rating is correct; the engine attributed to it in most articles is not.

The Highlander's 112.2 in wheelbase is the shortest here. A short wheelbase gives the tow vehicle less leverage against a swinging trailer; the mechanics are in can my SUV tow a camper and what causes trailer sway.

Body-on-frame: The body is mounted on a separate ladder frame, as on a pickup. The full-size SUVs in Tier 1 (Suburban/Yukon XL, Tahoe/Yukon, Expedition MAX, Sequoia) are built this way, and they carry the highest tow ratings here.

Unibody construction: The body and structure are one welded shell. Almost all mid-size SUVs are unibody. Hitch loads go into the body structure, and owner's manuals for these vehicles often set specific limits on hitch type and weight distribution.

Max Trailering Package / Heavy Duty Trailer Tow Package: An option package that the highest tow ratings require. Contents vary by model and are listed in the manufacturer's towing guide; they commonly include extra cooling, a hitch receiver, 7-pin wiring and sometimes an integrated brake controller. The towing guide also shows the lower rating that applies without the package.

Rear suspension type: Some large SUVs use independent rear suspension, others a solid rear axle, with coil springs or air springs. The type alone does not tell you capacity; the GVWR, rear GAWR and tow rating do.

Integrated trailer brake controller: A controller built into the vehicle that powers the trailer's electric brakes in proportion to braking. If your trailer has electric brakes and the vehicle has no integrated controller, you need an aftermarket one. Brake requirements by state are in our State Towing Laws Directory.

Before buying an SUV for towing, answer these with the vehicle's own labels and towing guide in hand:

Question 1: What does the payload placard on this vehicle say?
It is on the driver's door pillar: "The combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed..." Subtract your family, gear and hitch. What is left is the most tongue weight you can carry; divide it by 0.12 to see the loaded trailer that implies. A 1,200 lb placard with 840 lb of people and gear and a 90 lb hitch leaves 270 lb, which points to a trailer of about 2,250 lb.

Question 2: What is the wheelbase?
The common screening rule is 20 feet of trailer for 110 inches of wheelbase, plus a foot for each additional 4 inches. It is not a manufacturer rating; it flags combinations that need closer review. See our SUV camper guide.

Question 3: Does this exact vehicle have the towing package the rating requires?
The manufacturer's towing guide lists the rating with and without the package. Check the window sticker or build data, not the trim name.

Question 4: Is there an integrated trailer brake controller?
If your trailer has electric brakes (state law requires trailer brakes above a set weight, 3,000 lb in many states), the vehicle needs a controller. Without an integrated one, fit an aftermarket unit; proportional controllers, which respond to how hard you brake, give smoother trailer braking than timed ones.

Question 5: What does the loaded vehicle weigh?
Load the family, gear and hitch as for a trip, weigh the vehicle at a certified scale, and subtract the scale weight from the GVWR on the certification label. The remainder is your real tongue-weight budget; also check each axle against its GAWR.

The point of this guide is a method, so here it is run twice on the same trailer. Because payload is per-vehicle, both payload figures below are assumptions you would replace with your own door label — that is the whole exercise.

The setup. A family of four at 640 lb, 200 lb of luggage and gear, and a 22-foot bumper-pull at a loaded weight of 5,800 lb. At a 12% tongue share that is a 696 lb tongue weight, plus a 90 lb weight distribution hitch. So 930 lb of the tow vehicle's payload is spoken for before the tongue, and 1,626 lb once the tongue is included.

Scenario A — a full-size body-on-frame SUV whose door label reads 1,580 lb.

• Passengers and gear: 840 lb
• Weight distribution hitch: 90 lb
• Left for tongue weight: 1,580 - 930 = 650 lb
• Tongue weight required: 696 lb
• Over by 46 lb. Close enough to fix by carrying 50 lb or so less in the SUV, for example by moving it into the trailer over its axles, where it adds little to the tongue.
• At a 134 in wheelbase, a 22-foot trailer is comfortably inside the range this class handles.

Scenario B — a mid-size unibody SUV whose door label reads 1,150 lb.

• Passengers and gear: 840 lb
• Weight distribution hitch: 90 lb
• Left for tongue weight: 1,150 - 930 = 220 lb
• Tongue weight required: 696 lb
• Over by 476 lb: the tongue alone needs more than three times what remains. No cargo shuffle fixes this.
• At a 112–117 in wheelbase, the screening rule points to about 20.5–22 ft, so a 22-foot trailer is also at or past the long end.

Same trailer, same family, opposite verdicts. Scenario A's vehicle class is rated well above 5,800 lb, so payload is what bound. Scenario B only reaches the payload question if the mid-size SUV is rated for 5,800 lb at all: of the mid-size models above, only the 6,200 lb Grand Cherokee is. A 5,000 lb Explorer or Highlander fails on tow rating first. Either way, ranking SUVs by maximum tow capacity alone would have picked the wrong answer.

Run it with your own numbers in the payload calculator, and read the placard rather than a brochure — the door sticker guide shows where it is and what each line means.