Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2018

47-2073 Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators

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. Excludes "Crane and Tower Operators" (53-7021) and "Extraction Workers" (47-5000).

National estimates for this occupation
Industry profile for this occupation
Geographic profile for this occupation

National estimates for this occupation: Top

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for this occupation:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
383,480	0.8 %	$25.50	$53,030	0.3 %

Percentile wage estimates for this occupation:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$15.06	$17.90	$22.98	$30.55	$40.46
Annual Wage (2)	$31,320	$37,230	$47,810	$63,540	$84,160

Industry profile for this occupation: Top

Industries with the highest published employment and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all industries with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

Industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Other Specialty Trade Contractors	92,990	13.55	$25.37	$52,760
Utility System Construction	54,970	10.35	$27.34	$56,870
Local Government, excluding schools and hospitals (OES Designation)	51,070	0.93	$21.74	$45,210
Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction	46,700	13.61	$28.45	$59,180
State Government, excluding schools and hospitals (OES Designation)	16,560	0.76	$20.29	$42,200

Industries with the highest concentration of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction	46,700	13.61	$28.45	$59,180
Other Specialty Trade Contractors	92,990	13.55	$25.37	$52,760
Nonmetallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying	12,830	12.95	$21.88	$45,520
Coal Mining	6,070	11.96	$25.75	$53,570
Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction	13,160	11.17	$28.25	$58,750

Top paying industries for this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Scientific Research and Development Services	50	0.01	$37.73	$78,480
Natural Gas Distribution	1,370	1.25	$32.18	$66,940
Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution	2,090	0.53	$31.88	$66,320
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods (4242 and 4246 only)	(8)	(8)	$29.87	$62,130
Building Equipment Contractors	6,450	0.30	$29.38	$61,100

Geographic profile for this occupation: Top

States and areas with the highest published employment, location quotients, and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all areas with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

States with the highest employment level in this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Texas	42,880	3.54	1.34	$20.06	$41,730
California	28,110	1.65	0.62	$35.16	$73,130
Pennsylvania	21,110	3.61	1.36	$25.63	$53,320
Florida	18,720	2.17	0.82	$19.31	$40,160
Ohio	15,500	2.86	1.08	$27.21	$56,600

States with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Wyoming	4,240	15.76	5.95	$28.02	$58,270
West Virginia	6,690	9.60	3.62	$21.77	$45,280
Alaska	2,870	9.11	3.44	$34.01	$70,750
North Dakota	2,980	7.15	2.70	$26.65	$55,440
Montana	3,170	6.84	2.58	$24.80	$51,580

Top paying States for this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
New York	13,160	1.40	0.53	$39.39	$81,930
Hawaii	1,940	3.02	1.14	$37.72	$78,470
Illinois	11,150	1.86	0.70	$37.06	$77,090
New Jersey	5,340	1.32	0.50	$36.13	$75,150
California	28,110	1.65	0.62	$35.16	$73,130

Metropolitan areas with the highest employment level in this occupation:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA	10,780	1.13	0.43	$43.47	$90,430
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX	10,470	3.51	1.32	$21.52	$44,760
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	8,550	2.40	0.90	$19.90	$41,390
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI	7,680	1.65	0.62	$40.41	$84,050
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	5,990	0.98	0.37	$38.89	$80,900
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	5,620	2.09	0.79	$19.07	$39,670
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	5,480	2.80	1.06	$32.14	$66,850
Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH	5,110	1.85	0.70	$32.59	$67,790
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	5,100	1.79	0.68	$33.98	$70,680
Pittsburgh, PA	4,930	4.31	1.63	$24.93	$51,860