TradeSalary

Heavy equipment operator salary in Norwich, CT

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Heavy equipment operators in the Norwich–New London–Willimantic, CT area earn a median of $66,850 a year, or $32.14 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $101,960. Across all of Connecticut, the median is $78,750, so Norwich pays 15% less than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$66,850
Bottom 10% under$54,630Top 10% over$101,960
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$26.27/hr
Jobs in this area
210
After cost of living
$66,550
Median hourly pay
$32.14/hr
vs U.S. median
+12%
vs Connecticut median
−15%
Mean (average) pay
$73,080 a year · $35.13 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 35980, Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT). 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 Norwich, CT 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$26.27$54,630
25th percentile$30.37$63,170
Median (50th)$32.14$66,850
75th percentile$37.63$78,270
90th percentile$49.02$101,960

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

How Norwich, CT compares

  • Norwich has the lowest heavy equipment operator median of the 5 Connecticut metro areas with published pay.
  • Heavy equipment operators are less concentrated in the Norwich area than nationally: 1.6 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.53 times the U.S. share.

Other Connecticut metro areas

Other trades in Norwich, CT

Questions

Do heavy equipment operators make more in Norwich or Bridgeport?
Bridgeport pays more: the median is $66,850 in Norwich and $82,250 in Bridgeport, a 19% 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 35980 (Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT). 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 (100.4, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures