TradeSalary

Heavy equipment operator salary in Colorado Springs, CO

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Heavy equipment operators in the Colorado Springs, CO area earn a median of $61,660 a year, or $29.64 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $77,740. Statewide, heavy equipment operators earn a median of $62,620; Colorado Springs is 2% below it.

Median yearly pay$61,660
Bottom 10% under$49,390Top 10% over$77,740
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$23.74/hr
Jobs in this area
1,030
After cost of living
$61,230
Median hourly pay
$29.64/hr
vs U.S. median
+3%
vs Colorado median
−2%
Mean (average) pay
$62,850 a year · $30.22 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 17820, Colorado Springs, CO). 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 Colorado Springs, CO 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$23.74$49,390
25th percentile$25.39$52,800
Median (50th)$29.64$61,660
75th percentile$34.71$72,190
90th percentile$37.38$77,740

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

How Colorado Springs, CO compares

  • Colorado Springs ranks 4th of 7 Colorado metro areas for heavy equipment operator pay.
  • Heavy equipment operators hold about the same share of jobs in the Colorado Springs area as nationally: 3.3 of every 1,000 jobs.

Other Colorado metro areas

Other trades in Colorado Springs, CO

Questions

Do heavy equipment operators make more in Colorado Springs or Fort Collins?
Fort Collins pays more: the median is $61,660 in Colorado Springs and $64,650 in Fort Collins, a 5% 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 17820 (Colorado Springs, CO). 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 (100.7, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures