Heavy equipment operator salary in Portland, ME
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Heavy equipment operators in the Portland–South Portland, ME area earn a median of $59,530 a year, or $28.62 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $77,340. Across all of Maine, the median is $56,140, so Portland pays 6% more than the state as a whole.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $23.73/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 880
- After cost of living
- $58,440
- Median hourly pay
- $28.62/hr
- vs U.S. median
- −1%
- vs Maine median
- +6%
- Mean (average) pay
- $61,940 a year · $29.78 an hour
Pay by percentile
What heavy equipment operators in Portland, ME 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 | $23.73 | $49,350 |
| 25th percentile | $25.00 | $52,000 |
| Median (50th) | $28.62 | $59,530 |
| 75th percentile | $30.84 | $64,140 |
| 90th percentile | $37.18 | $77,340 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Portland, ME compares
- Portland has the highest heavy equipment operator median of the 3 Maine metro areas with published pay.
- Heavy equipment operators hold about the same share of jobs in the Portland area as nationally: 3.1 of every 1,000 jobs.
Other Maine metro areas
Other trades in Portland, ME
Questions
- Do heavy equipment operators make more in Portland or Lewiston?
- Portland pays more: the median is $59,530 in Portland and $56,140 in Lewiston, 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 38860 (Portland-South Portland, ME). 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 (101.9, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures