Money · 1 of 5
What operators make
Median
$59,850
Bottom tenth
$42,190
Top tenth
$101,090
The national median is $59,850 a year, and the bottom tenth start near $42,190. The survey title is operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, which confuses everybody: an operating engineer here runs machines, it is not an engineering job. Union operators on highway and heavy civil work sit at the top of this range, non-union residential work near the bottom.