TradeSalary

Heavy equipment operator salary in Yuba City, CA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Heavy equipment operators in the Yuba City, CA area earn a median of $80,620 a year, or $38.76 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $136,330. That's 8% less than the California median of $87,160.

Median yearly pay$80,620
Bottom 10% under$56,130Top 10% over$136,330
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$26.99/hr
Jobs in this area
230
After cost of living
$77,350
Median hourly pay
$38.76/hr
vs U.S. median
+35%
vs California median
−8%
Mean (average) pay
$91,900 a year · $44.18 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 49700, Yuba City, CA). Excludes self-employed heavy equipment operators. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Pay by percentile

What heavy equipment operators in Yuba City, 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.

PercentileHourlyYearly
10th percentile$26.99$56,130
25th percentile$31.22$64,930
Median (50th)$38.76$80,620
75th percentile$60.63$126,100
90th percentile$65.54$136,330

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

How Yuba City, CA compares

  • Yuba City ranks 12th of 25 California metro areas for heavy equipment operator pay.
  • Heavy equipment operators are more concentrated in the Yuba City area than nationally: 4.5 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.4 times the U.S. share.

Other California metro areas

Other trades in Yuba City, CA

Questions

Do heavy equipment operators make more in Yuba City or San Francisco?
San Francisco pays more: the median is $80,620 in Yuba City and $124,750 in San Francisco, a 35% 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 49700 (Yuba City, 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 (104.2, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures