---
title: "Tunnel Boring Machine Operator"
description: "Drives the giant tunnel boring machines that dig subway, water, sewer and highway tunnels deep underground."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/tunnel-boring-machine-operator"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Tunnel Boring Machine Operator

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

Drives the giant tunnel boring machines that dig subway, water, sewer and highway tunnels deep underground.

Also advertised as: TBM Operator; TBM Pilot; Tunnel Machine Operator; Microtunneling Operator; Tunnel Boring Machine Pilot.

## 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:** +4.6% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 39,200 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/tunnel-boring-machine-operator/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/tunnel-boring-machine-operator.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 489,500 in the 2025–2035 base year to 511,800 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 22,300 jobs, or +4.6%. Faster than average: 4.6% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 39,200 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) | 81.7% |
| Some College Courses | 16.3% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 1.4% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 0.6% |

## What the work involves

- Operate the cutterhead, thrust and steering of a tunnel boring machine
- Monitor face pressure, torque and machine guidance data
- Steer the machine to stay on tunnel line and grade
- Coordinate segment lining installation with the ring build crew
- Monitor muck removal by conveyor or rail
- Respond to changes in ground conditions
- Assist with cutter changes and machine maintenance
- Log machine performance and shift reports

## 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 | 4.64 |
| 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 | 91.6 |
| ISTP | 78.9 |
| ISFJ | 74.6 |
| ESTJ | 73.4 |
| INTJ | 69.1 |

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
- [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

## 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/tunnel-boring-machine-operator