Heavy equipment operator salary in Panama City, FL
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Heavy equipment operators in the Panama City–Panama City Beach, FL area earn a median of $48,620 a year, or $23.38 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $61,870 a year. Statewide, heavy equipment operators earn a median of $49,400; Panama City is 2% below it.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $17.88/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 500
- After cost of living
- $49,970
- Median hourly pay
- $23.38/hr
- vs U.S. median
- −19%
- vs Florida median
- −2%
- Mean (average) pay
- $51,210 a year · $24.62 an hour
Pay by percentile
What heavy equipment operators in Panama City, 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.
| Percentile | Hourly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $17.88 | $37,190 |
| 25th percentile | $21.88 | $45,500 |
| Median (50th) | $23.38 | $48,620 |
| 75th percentile | $27.56 | $57,320 |
| 90th percentile | $29.74 | $61,870 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Panama City, FL compares
- Panama City ranks 12th of 22 Florida metro areas for heavy equipment operator pay.
- Heavy equipment operators are more concentrated in the Panama City area than nationally: 5.5 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.8 times the U.S. share.
Other Florida metro areas
Other trades in Panama City, FL
Questions
- Do heavy equipment operators make more in Panama City or Miami?
- Miami pays more: the median is $48,620 in Panama City and $51,800 in Miami, a 6% 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 37460 (Panama City-Panama City Beach, 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 (97.3, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures