Heavy equipment operator salary in Santa Cruz, CA
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Heavy equipment operators in the Santa Cruz–Watsonville, CA area earn a median of $75,640 a year, or $36.36 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $136,950. Statewide, heavy equipment operators earn a median of $87,160; Santa Cruz is 13% below it.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $26.51/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 130
- After cost of living
- $68,830
- Median hourly pay
- $36.36/hr
- vs U.S. median
- +26%
- vs California median
- −13%
- Mean (average) pay
- $83,510 a year · $40.15 an hour
Pay by percentile
What heavy equipment operators in Santa Cruz, CA earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.
| Percentile | Hourly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $26.51 | $55,130 |
| 25th percentile | $29.43 | $61,210 |
| Median (50th) | $36.36 | $75,640 |
| 75th percentile | $46.56 | $96,850 |
| 90th percentile | $65.84 | $136,950 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Santa Cruz, CA compares
- Santa Cruz ranks 21st of 25 California metro areas for heavy equipment operator pay.
- Heavy equipment operators are less concentrated in the Santa Cruz area than nationally: 1.3 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.41 times the U.S. share.
Other California metro areas
Other trades in Santa Cruz, CA
Questions
- Do heavy equipment operators make more in Santa Cruz or San Francisco?
- San Francisco pays more: the median is $75,640 in Santa Cruz and $124,750 in San Francisco, a 39% difference.
About this data
Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2073 (Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators), area code 42100 (Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed heavy equipment operators and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (109.9, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures