After sharing average hourly wage data for construction laborers, ranked by state, a little over a week ago, I’ve decided to begin doing the same for the other many different construction related professions. Our second profession that we’ll be analyzing will be heavy equipment operators.
Heavy equipment operators are not only responsible for many of our favorite construction videos, like demolitions and equipment street fights, but are also extremely important to many phases of the construction process. Operators are on site for much of the heavy lifting, from subgrade and foundation work, to equipment and material hauling.
"Heavy equipment operator" is a fairly vague title, so it’s important to understand what’s not included in this data set. The official title from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is “Operating Engineer and Other Construction Equipment Operators” and does not include paving and surfaces operators, pile driving operators, or crane operators. All data below comes from the BLS' most recent reports from May 2016.
Graph of Average Hourly Wage of Heavy Construction Equipment Operator, by State
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Rankings of Average Hourly Wage of Heavy Construction Equipment Operator, by State
51. Arkansas -- $16.60/hour
50. Georgia -- $17.50/hour
49. North Carolina -- $17.85/hour
48. Alabama -- $18.27/hour
47. South Carolina -- $18.28/hour
46. Florida -- $18.29/hour
45. Maine -- $18.53/hour
44. Mississippi -- $18.66/hour
43. Oklahoma -- $18.89/hour
42. Texas -- $19.28/hour
41. Nebraska -- $19.32/hour
40. Tennessee -- $19.51/hour
39. Kansas -- $19.63/hour
38. Virginia -- $19.96/hour
37. Delaware -- $20.06/hour
36. Louisiana -- $20.10/hour
35. Vermont -- $20.12/hour
34. South Dakota -- $20.23/hour
33. Idaho -- $20.49/hour
32. Kentucky -- $21.04/hour
31. New Mexico -- $21.05/hour
30. Utah -- $21.71/hour
29. West Virginia -- $21.99/hour
28. Arizona -- $22.26/hour
27. Iowa -- $22.63/hour
26. New Hampshire -- $23.01/hour
25. Pennsylvania -- $23.03/hour
24. Colorado -- $23.10/hour
23. Maryland -- $23.43/hour
22. Montana -- $23.46/hour
21. Michigan -- $23.80/hour
20. Oregon -- $25.75/hour
19. Missouri -- $25.81/hour
18. Ohio -- $26.03/hour
17. Indiana -- $26.10/hour
16. Wyoming -- $27.23/hour
15. Wisconsin -- $27.71/hour
14. North Dakota -- $27.84/hour
13. Nevada -- $27.85/hour
12. Rhode Island -- $28.25/hour
11. Minnesota -- $28.89/hour
10. Washington -- $28.94/hour
9. District of Columbia -- $29.43/hour
8. Connecticut -- $31.27/hour
7. Massachusetts -- $32.93/hour
6. California -- $33.09/hour
5. Alaska -- $33.49/hour
4. New Jersey -- $33.55/hour
3. Hawaii -- $35.12/hour
2. New York -- $35.22/hour
1. Illinois -- $36.05/hour
Graph of Average Hourly Wage of Heavy Construction Equipment Operator - Adjusted for Cost of Living, by State
UPDATED 9/18/17: Cost of living in each state also has a large impact on the amount of money construction trades actually bring home, so I'm including a graph that shows each state's adjusted hourly wage based upon the cost of living index for that state. All cost of living index data comes from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center and was last updated for the second quarter of 2017. The cost of living index was based upon grocery, housing, utilities, transportation, health, and miscellaneous costs for each state.
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Rankings of Average Hourly Wage of Heavy Construction Equipment Operator - Adjusted for Cost of Living, by State
51. Hawaii-- $11.80/hour
50. District of Columbia-- $13.71/hour
49. Maine-- $16.36/hour
48. Maryland-- $17.10/hour
47. Oregon-- $17.59/hour
46. California-- $18.00/hour
45. South Carolina-- $18.54/hour
44. Florida-- $18.56/hour
43. Arkansas-- $18.69/hour
42. North Carolina-- $18.81/hour
41. Georgia-- $19.15/hour
40. Virginia-- $19.52/hour
39. Vermont-- $19.54/hour
38. Delaware-- $19.62/hour
37. Alabama-- $19.97/hour
36. New Hampshire-- $20.25/hour
35. South Dakota-- $20.31/hour
34. Oklahoma-- $20.82/hour
33. Nebraska-- $20.90/hour
32. Texas-- $21.09/hour
31. Louisiana-- $21.19/hour
30. Mississippi-- $21.37/hour
29. Tennessee-- $21.58/hour
28. Kansas-- $21.65/hour
27. Rhode Island-- $21.95/hour
26. Idaho-- $22.27/hour
25. New Mexico-- $22.29/hour
24. Colorado-- $22.43/hour
23. Kentucky-- $22.45/hour
22. Pennsylvania-- $22.66/hour
21. Utah-- $22.73/hour
20. Massachusetts-- $22.89/hour
19. West Virginia-- $22.89/hour
18. Arizona-- $23.04/hour
17. Montana-- $23.30/hour
16. Alaska-- $23.31/hour
15. New York-- $24.09/hour
14. Iowa-- $24.46/hour
13. New Jersey-- $26.00/hour
12. Michigan-- $26.11/hour
11. Connecticut-- $26.11/hour
10. Nevada-- $26.35/hour
9. Washington-- $26.62/hour
8. Ohio-- $28.03/hour
7. North Dakota-- $28.15/hour
6. Wyoming-- $28.18/hour
5. Missouri-- $28.42/hour
4. Wisconsin-- $28.43/hour
3. Indiana-- $28.50/hour
2. Minnesota-- $28.95/hour
1. Illinois--$37.06/hour
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