TradeSalary

Heavy equipment operator salary in Worcester, MA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Heavy equipment operators in the Worcester, MA area earn a median of $77,050 a year, or $37.05 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $126,110. That's about the same as the Massachusetts median of $76,820.

Median yearly pay$77,050
Bottom 10% under$49,440Top 10% over$126,110
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$23.77/hr
Jobs in this area
1,230
After cost of living
$75,150
Median hourly pay
$37.05/hr
vs U.S. median
+29%
vs Massachusetts median
0%
Mean (average) pay
$83,980 a year · $40.38 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 49340, Worcester, MA). 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 Worcester, MA 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$23.77$49,440
25th percentile$29.12$60,570
Median (50th)$37.05$77,050
75th percentile$54.24$112,810
90th percentile$60.63$126,110

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

How Worcester, MA compares

  • Worcester has the highest heavy equipment operator median of the 7 Massachusetts metro areas with published pay.
  • Heavy equipment operators are more concentrated in the Worcester area than nationally: 3.5 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.1 times the U.S. share.

Other Massachusetts metro areas

Other trades in Worcester, MA

Questions

Do heavy equipment operators make more in Worcester or Boston?
Pay is about the same: the median is $77,050 in Worcester and $76,940 in Boston.

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 49340 (Worcester, MA). 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 (102.5, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures