---
title: "Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator"
description: "Operate equipment used for applying concrete, asphalt, or other materials to road beds, parking lots, or airport runways and taxiways or for tamping…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/paving-surfacing-and-tamping-equipment-operator"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator

**Category:** Construction and Extraction · **SOC code:** 47-2071 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 47-2071.00

Operate equipment used for applying concrete, asphalt, or other materials to road beds, parking lots, or airport runways and taxiways or for tamping gravel, dirt, or other materials. Includes concrete and asphalt paving machine operators, form tampers, tamping machine operators, and stone spreader operators.

Also advertised as: Asphalt Paver Operator; Asphalt Paving Machine Operator; Asphalt Raker; Asphalt Roller Operator; Equipment Operator (EO); Loader Operator; Maintenance Equipment Operator (MEO); Paver Operator.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $53,340 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $25.64/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $38,230 to $92,230, with the middle half between $45,610 and $64,720
- **Total US employment:** 41,820
- **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:** -0.9% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 3,100 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 41,820 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $38,230 |
| 25th | $45,610 |
| 50th (median) | $53,340 |
| 75th | $64,720 |
| 90th | $92,230 |
| Mean (average) | $59,000 |

### 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 | $111,360 | $101,281 | Not published by BLS |
| DC | $91,280 | $83,057 | 70 |
| WA | $90,530 | $84,597 | 530 |
| AK | $83,520 | $81,595 | 80 |
| CA | $83,130 | $75,081 | 1,400 |
| CT | $77,480 | $74,780 | Not published by BLS |
| ID | $73,210 | $76,665 | 130 |
| IL | $73,060 | $73,091 | 950 |
| MO | $69,400 | $76,417 | 1,560 |
| WI | $69,020 | $73,351 | 960 |
| MN | $68,180 | $69,133 | 830 |
| OR | $63,310 | $61,251 | 520 |
| RI | $63,060 | $61,654 | 160 |
| NY | $62,760 | $58,154 | 4,530 |
| NH | $62,080 | $59,598 | 260 |

36 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 51 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/paving-surfacing-and-tamping-equipment-operator/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/paving-surfacing-and-tamping-equipment-operator.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 42,300 in the 2025–2035 base year to 41,900 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 400 jobs, or -0.9%. Declining: -0.9% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 3,100 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 | 41.0% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 38.4% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 20.6% |

## What the work involves

- Inspect, clean, maintain, and repair equipment, using mechanics' hand tools, or report malfunctions to supervisors.
- Start machine, engage clutch, and push and move levers to guide machine along forms or guidelines and to control the operation of machine attachments.
- Operate machines to spread, smooth, level, or steel-reinforce stone, concrete, or asphalt on road beds.
- Operate tamping machines or manually roll surfaces to compact earth fills, foundation forms, and finished road materials, according to grade specifications.
- Shovel blacktop.
- Control traffic.
- Observe distribution of paving material to adjust machine settings or material flow, and indicate low spots for workers to add material.
- Fill tanks, hoppers, or machines with paving materials.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Monitoring — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — 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.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — 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
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Building and Construction — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Physics — importance 2.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 2.7 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 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Multilimb Coordination — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Rate Control — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reaction Time — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Static Strength — importance 3.1 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 | 3.69 |
| I — Investigative | 1.72 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |
| S — Social | 1.00 |
| E — Enterprising | 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 | 86.9 |
| ISTP | 76.1 |
| ISFJ | 73.2 |
| ESTJ | 71.4 |
| INTJ | 64.1 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ. The bank also flags this occupation as introvert-friendly, meaning O\*NET work-context ratings put it low on public contact and performing for the public.

## Related occupations

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

- [Construction Laborer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-laborer) — median $47,120
- [Operating Engineer and Other Construction Equipment Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/operating-engineer-and-other-construction-equipment-operator) — median $59,850
- [Segmental Paver](https://nuecareer.com/careers/segmental-paver) — median $49,910
- [Cement Mason and Concrete Finisher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cement-mason-and-concrete-finisher) — median $57,020
- [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
- [Pile Driver Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pile-driver-operator) — median $73,300
- [Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rail-track-laying-and-maintenance-equipment-operator) — median $70,070
- [Pipelayer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pipelayer) — median $49,000
- [Hoist and Winch Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hoist-and-winch-operator) — median $56,450
- [Highway Maintenance Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/highway-maintenance-worker) — median $50,260

## 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/paving-surfacing-and-tamping-equipment-operator