---
title: "Logging Equipment Operator"
description: "Drive logging tractor or wheeled vehicle equipped with one or more accessories, such as bulldozer blade, frontal shear, grapple, logging arch, cable…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/logging-equipment-operator"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Logging Equipment Operator

**Category:** Farming, Fishing, and Forestry · **SOC code:** 45-4022 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 45-4022.00

Drive logging tractor or wheeled vehicle equipped with one or more accessories, such as bulldozer blade, frontal shear, grapple, logging arch, cable winches, hoisting rack, or crane boom, to fell tree; to skid, load, unload, or stack logs; or to pull stumps or clear brush. Includes operating stand-alone logging machines, such as log chippers.

Also advertised as: Delimber Operator; Feller Buncher Operator; Harvester Operator; Loader Operator; Log Processor Operator; Logging Equipment Operator; Logging Shovel Operator; Skidder Driver.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $49,740 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $23.91/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $35,170 to $74,300, with the middle half between $43,970 and $61,050
- **Total US employment:** 21,060
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -3.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 3,700 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 65/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 21,060 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $35,170 |
| 25th | $43,970 |
| 50th (median) | $49,740 |
| 75th | $61,050 |
| 90th | $74,300 |
| Mean (average) | $53,190 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WA | $75,140 | $70,216 | 1,150 |
| IL | $71,100 | $71,130 | 40 |
| TX | $62,890 | $64,797 | 500 |
| CA | $61,940 | $55,943 | 950 |
| SD | $58,740 | $66,308 | 50 |
| OR | $58,720 | $56,811 | 1,860 |
| LA | $58,600 | $66,435 | 770 |
| MN | $58,590 | $59,409 | 320 |
| MT | $56,530 | $59,728 | 190 |
| ID | $56,490 | $59,156 | 560 |
| VT | $52,910 | $54,013 | 60 |
| NH | $51,540 | $49,479 | 170 |
| OH | $50,590 | $54,530 | 260 |
| WY | $49,650 | $53,565 | 40 |
| CO | $49,620 | $48,150 | 70 |

21 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 36 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/logging-equipment-operator/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/logging-equipment-operator.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 29,300 in the 2025–2035 base year to 28,200 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 1,100 jobs, or -3.8%. Declining: -3.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 3,700 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 55.4% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 43.7% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 0.9% |

## What the work involves

- Inspect equipment for safety prior to use, and perform necessary basic maintenance tasks.
- Drive straight or articulated tractors equipped with accessories such as bulldozer blades, grapples, logging arches, cable winches, and crane booms to skid, load, unload, or stack logs, pull stumps, or clear brush.
- Drive crawler or wheeled tractors to drag or transport logs from felling sites to log landing areas for processing and loading.
- Drive tractors for building or repairing logging and skid roads.
- Control hydraulic tractors equipped with tree clamps and booms to lift, swing, and bunch sheared trees.
- Fill out required job or shift report forms.
- Grade logs according to characteristics such as knot size and straightness, and according to established industry or company standards.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operation and Control — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Mechanical — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 2.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Control Precision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reaction Time — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Multilimb Coordination — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Depth Perception — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.83 |
| C — Conventional | 4.40 |
| I — Investigative | 1.81 |
| S — Social | 1.11 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.10 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 89.0 |
| ISFJ | 75.8 |
| ISTP | 75.2 |
| ESTJ | 73.8 |
| INTJ | 64.1 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Operating Engineer and Other Construction Equipment Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/operating-engineer-and-other-construction-equipment-operator) — median $59,850
- [Continuous Mining Machine Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/continuous-mining-machine-operator) — median $61,810
- [Loading and Moving Machine Operator, Underground Mining](https://nuecareer.com/careers/loading-and-moving-machine-operator-underground-mining) — median $74,500
- [Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operator, Surface Mining](https://nuecareer.com/careers/excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operator-surface-mining) — median $57,430
- [Hoist and Winch Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hoist-and-winch-operator) — median $56,450
- [Industrial Truck and Tractor Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-truck-and-tractor-operator) — median $46,420
- [Agricultural Equipment Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/agricultural-equipment-operator) — median $41,730
- [Faller](https://nuecareer.com/careers/faller) — median $52,100
- [Crane and Tower Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/crane-and-tower-operator) — median $68,080
- [Log Grader and Scaler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/log-grader-and-scaler) — median $46,330

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/logging-equipment-operator