---
title: "Operating Engineer and Other Construction Equipment Operator"
description: "Operate one or several types of power construction equipment, such as motor graders, bulldozers, scrapers, compressors, pumps, derricks, shovels…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/operating-engineer-and-other-construction-equipment-operator"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Operating Engineer and Other Construction Equipment Operator

**Category:** Construction and Extraction · **SOC code:** 47-2073 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 47-2073.00

Operate one or several types of power construction equipment, such as motor graders, bulldozers, scrapers, compressors, pumps, derricks, shovels, tractors, or front-end loaders to excavate, move, and grade earth, erect structures, or pour concrete or other hard surface pavement. May repair and maintain equipment in addition to other duties.

Also advertised as: Back Hoe Operator; Engineering Equipment Operator; Equipment Operator (EO); Forklift Operator; Heavy Equipment Operator (HEO); Hot Mix Asphalt Operator; Machine Operator; Motor Grader Operator.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $59,850 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $28.78/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $42,190 to $101,090, with the middle half between $48,680 and $77,170
- **Total US employment:** 478,090
- **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:** +3.6% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 41,900 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 70/100 — 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 478,090 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $42,190 |
| 25th | $48,680 |
| 50th (median) | $59,850 |
| 75th | $77,170 |
| 90th | $101,090 |
| Mean (average) | $66,290 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| HI | $115,860 | $105,374 | 2,380 |
| IL | $97,740 | $97,781 | 12,290 |
| NJ | $89,660 | $82,404 | 5,980 |
| CA | $87,160 | $78,721 | 36,020 |
| WA | $81,700 | $76,346 | 10,290 |
| NY | $80,980 | $75,036 | 14,490 |
| IN | $79,580 | $85,268 | 11,520 |
| MN | $79,130 | $80,236 | 8,590 |
| CT | $78,750 | $76,006 | 2,860 |
| AK | $77,810 | $76,017 | 3,050 |
| MA | $76,820 | $72,638 | 9,680 |
| WI | $75,280 | $80,004 | 8,140 |
| DC | $74,610 | $67,888 | 620 |
| OR | $73,430 | $71,042 | 5,630 |
| NV | $71,410 | $71,425 | 5,410 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/operating-engineer-and-other-construction-equipment-operator/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/operating-engineer-and-other-construction-equipment-operator.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 489,300 in the 2024–2034 base year to 507,100 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 17,800 jobs, or +3.6%. About as fast as average: 3.6% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 41,900 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## 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 |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma | 81.7% |
| Some College Courses | 16.3% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 1.4% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 0.6% |

## What the work involves

- Learn and follow safety regulations.
- Drive and maneuver equipment equipped with blades in successive passes over working areas to remove topsoil, vegetation, or rocks or to distribute and level earth or terrain.
- Operate equipment to demolish or remove debris or to remove snow from streets, roads, or parking lots.
- Start engines, move throttles, switches, or levers, or depress pedals to operate machines, such as bulldozers, trench excavators, road graders, or backhoes.
- Operate tractors or bulldozers to perform such tasks as clearing land, mixing sludge, trimming backfills, or building roadways or parking lots.
- Load and move dirt, rocks, equipment, or other materials, using trucks, crawler tractors, power cranes, shovels, graders, or related equipment.
- Operate loaders to pull out stumps, rip asphalt or concrete, rough-grade properties, bury refuse, or perform general cleanup.
- Keep records of material or equipment usage or problems encountered.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.0 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 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 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

### Knowledge areas

- Mechanical — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 2.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Control Precision — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Depth Perception — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Multilimb Coordination — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Far Vision — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Rate Control — 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 | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 3.88 |
| I — Investigative | 2.93 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.26 |
| S — Social | 1.14 |
| 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 | 89.7 |
| ISTP | 79.8 |
| ISFJ | 72.0 |
| ESTJ | 71.3 |
| INTJ | 69.3 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [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
- [Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanic, Except Engines](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mobile-heavy-equipment-mechanic) — median $65,510
- [Continuous Mining Machine Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/continuous-mining-machine-operator) — median $61,810
- [Industrial Truck and Tractor Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-truck-and-tractor-operator) — median $46,420
- [Crane and Tower Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/crane-and-tower-operator) — median $68,080
- [Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/paving-surfacing-and-tamping-equipment-operator) — median $53,340
- [Pile Driver Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pile-driver-operator) — median $73,300
- [Construction Laborer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-laborer) — median $47,120
- [Millwright](https://nuecareer.com/careers/millwright) — median $65,700

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 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, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 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 30.3 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/operating-engineer-and-other-construction-equipment-operator