Heavy equipment operator salary in Syracuse, NY
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Heavy equipment operators in the Syracuse, NY area earn a median of $63,810 a year, or $30.68 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $121,270. Across all of New York, the median is $80,980, so Syracuse pays 21% less than the state as a whole.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $23.74/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 700
- After cost of living
- $66,650
- Median hourly pay
- $30.68/hr
- vs U.S. median
- +7%
- vs New York median
- −21%
- Mean (average) pay
- $79,110 a year · $38.03 an hour
Pay by percentile
What heavy equipment operators in Syracuse, NY 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 | $23.74 | $49,370 |
| 25th percentile | $26.67 | $55,480 |
| Median (50th) | $30.68 | $63,810 |
| 75th percentile | $50.65 | $105,360 |
| 90th percentile | $58.30 | $121,270 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Syracuse, NY compares
- Syracuse ranks 8th of 13 New York metro areas for heavy equipment operator pay.
- Heavy equipment operators are less concentrated in the Syracuse area than nationally: 2.3 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.76 times the U.S. share.
Other New York metro areas
Other trades in Syracuse, NY
Questions
- Do heavy equipment operators make more in Syracuse or New York?
- New York pays more: the median is $63,810 in Syracuse and $95,050 in New York, a 33% 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 45060 (Syracuse, NY). 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 (95.7, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures