---
title: "Pump Operator, Except Wellhead Pumpers"
description: "Tend, control, or operate power-driven, stationary, or portable pumps and manifold systems to transfer gases, oil, other liquids, slurries, or powdered…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/pump-operator"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Pump Operator, Except Wellhead Pumpers

**Category:** Transportation and Material Moving · **SOC code:** 53-7072 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 53-7072.00

Tend, control, or operate power-driven, stationary, or portable pumps and manifold systems to transfer gases, oil, other liquids, slurries, or powdered materials to and from various vessels and processes.

Also advertised as: Boom Pump Operator; Chemical Pumper; Day Light Relief Operator; Outside Operator; Pipeline Dispatch Operator; Pipeline Operator; Pump Operator; Pump Station Operator.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $61,770 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $29.70/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $39,420 to $91,820, with the middle half between $47,560 and $77,210
- **Total US employment:** 9,780
- **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:** +4.3% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 56/100 — 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 9,780 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $39,420 |
| 25th | $47,560 |
| 50th (median) | $61,770 |
| 75th | $77,210 |
| 90th | $91,820 |
| Mean (average) | $63,960 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IL | $92,310 | $92,349 | 50 |
| ND | $81,400 | $91,503 | 70 |
| AK | $80,210 | $78,361 | 120 |
| WY | $77,820 | $83,956 | 290 |
| CT | $71,890 | $69,385 | 30 |
| MT | $71,770 | $75,831 | 50 |
| MI | $69,540 | $72,274 | 40 |
| AL | $66,890 | $75,307 | 100 |
| VA | $66,500 | $65,774 | 150 |
| NJ | $64,990 | $59,731 | 310 |
| OH | $64,700 | $69,739 | 150 |
| LA | $64,110 | $72,681 | 1,370 |
| GA | $64,050 | $66,516 | 130 |
| TX | $61,770 | $63,643 | 2,110 |
| MS | $61,670 | $70,923 | 70 |

23 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 38 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/pump-operator/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/pump-operator.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 9,800 in the 2025–2035 base year to 10,200 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 400 jobs, or +4.3%. About as fast as average: 4.3% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,000 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 |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 60.9% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 17.6% |
| Some College Courses | 8.5% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 8.4% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 4.6% |

## What the work involves

- Read operating schedules or instructions or receive verbal orders to determine amounts to be pumped.
- Connect hoses and pipelines to pumps and vessels prior to material transfer, using hand tools.
- Turn valves and start pumps to start or regulate flows of substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials.
- Clean, lubricate, and repair pumps and vessels, using hand tools and equipment.
- Communicate with other workers, using signals, radios, or telephones, to start and stop flows of materials or substances.
- Monitor gauges and flowmeters and inspect equipment to ensure that tank levels, temperatures, chemical amounts, and pressures are at specified levels, reporting abnormalities as necessary.
- Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, stocks used, gauging results, and operating times.
- Plan movement of products through lines to processing, storage, and shipping units, using knowledge of interconnections and capacities of pipelines, valve manifolds, pumps, and tankage.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Monitoring — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.4 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 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — 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
- Instructing — 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

### Knowledge areas

- Production and Processing — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Near Vision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Perceptual Speed — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.4 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 | 6.68 |
| C — Conventional | 4.50 |
| I — Investigative | 2.27 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.46 |
| S — Social | 1.28 |
| 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 | 90.5 |
| ISTP | 76.1 |
| ISFJ | 75.9 |
| ESTJ | 75.1 |
| INTJ | 65.4 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Gas Compressor and Gas Pumping Station Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/gas-compressor-and-gas-pumping-station-operator) — median $77,320
- [Petroleum Pump System Operator, Refinery Operator, and Gauger](https://nuecareer.com/careers/petroleum-pump-system-operator-refinery-operator-and-gauger) — median $96,710
- [Wellhead Pumper](https://nuecareer.com/careers/wellhead-pumper) — median $69,960
- [Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/separating-filtering-clarifying-precipitating-and-still-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $51,610
- [Stationary Engineer and Boiler Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/stationary-engineer-and-boiler-operator) — median $78,620
- [Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-and-wastewater-treatment-plant-and-system-operator) — median $60,020
- [Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tank-car-truck-and-ship-loader) — median $58,870
- [Chemical Plant and System Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-plant-and-system-operator) — median $78,120
- [Chemical Equipment Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-equipment-operator-and-tender) — median $58,040
- [Power Plant Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-plant-operator) — median $102,040

## 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/
- **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/pump-operator