Heavy equipment operator salary in Lake Charles, LA
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Heavy equipment operators in the Lake Charles, LA area earn a median of $49,270 a year, or $23.69 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $76,120. Across all of Louisiana, the median is $51,700, so Lake Charles pays 5% less than the state as a whole.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $17.29/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 410
- After cost of living
- $57,390
- Median hourly pay
- $23.69/hr
- vs U.S. median
- −18%
- vs Louisiana median
- −5%
- Mean (average) pay
- $54,130 a year · $26.02 an hour
Pay by percentile
What heavy equipment operators in Lake Charles, LA 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 | $17.29 | $35,950 |
| 25th percentile | $21.27 | $44,240 |
| Median (50th) | $23.69 | $49,270 |
| 75th percentile | $29.07 | $60,460 |
| 90th percentile | $36.59 | $76,120 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Lake Charles, LA compares
- Lake Charles ranks 7th of 10 Louisiana metro areas for heavy equipment operator pay.
- Heavy equipment operators are more concentrated in the Lake Charles area than nationally: 4.1 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.3 times the U.S. share.
Other Louisiana metro areas
Other trades in Lake Charles, LA
Questions
- Do heavy equipment operators make more in Lake Charles or New Orleans?
- New Orleans pays more: the median is $49,270 in Lake Charles and $58,240 in New Orleans, a 15% 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 29340 (Lake Charles, LA). 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 (85.9, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures