TradeSalary

Heavy equipment operator salary in Cape Coral, FL

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Heavy equipment operators in the Cape Coral–Fort Myers, FL area earn a median of $49,330 a year, or $23.72 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $63,300. Across all of Florida, the median is $49,400, so Cape Coral pays about the same as the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$49,330
Bottom 10% under$39,520Top 10% over$63,300
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$19.00/hr
Jobs in this area
1,160
After cost of living
$48,200
Median hourly pay
$23.72/hr
vs U.S. median
−18%
vs Florida median
0%
Mean (average) pay
$52,990 a year · $25.48 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 15980, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL). 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 Cape Coral, FL 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$19.00$39,520
25th percentile$22.54$46,870
Median (50th)$23.72$49,330
75th percentile$28.41$59,090
90th percentile$30.43$63,300

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

How Cape Coral, FL compares

  • Cape Coral ranks 7th of 22 Florida metro areas for heavy equipment operator pay.
  • Heavy equipment operators are more concentrated in the Cape Coral area than nationally: 3.8 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.2 times the U.S. share.

Other Florida metro areas

Other trades in Cape Coral, FL

Questions

Do heavy equipment operators make more in Cape Coral or Miami?
Miami pays more: the median is $49,330 in Cape Coral and $51,800 in Miami, 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 15980 (Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL). 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 (102.3, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures