Heavy equipment operator salary in Grand Forks, ND-MN
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Heavy equipment operators in the Grand Forks, ND-MN area earn a median of $61,520 a year, or $29.58 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $95,570. That's 1% less than the North Dakota median of $62,150.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $23.56/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 370
- After cost of living
- $70,990
- Median hourly pay
- $29.58/hr
- vs U.S. median
- +3%
- vs North Dakota median
- −1%
- Mean (average) pay
- $66,150 a year · $31.80 an hour
Pay by percentile
What heavy equipment operators in Grand Forks, ND-MN 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 | $23.56 | $49,000 |
| 25th percentile | $27.97 | $58,180 |
| Median (50th) | $29.58 | $61,520 |
| 75th percentile | $35.11 | $73,020 |
| 90th percentile | $45.95 | $95,570 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Grand Forks, ND-MN compares
- Grand Forks has the lowest heavy equipment operator median of the 4 North Dakota metro areas with published pay.
- Heavy equipment operators are more concentrated in the Grand Forks area than nationally: 7.0 of every 1,000 jobs, 2.3 times the U.S. share.
Other North Dakota metro areas
Other trades in Grand Forks, ND-MN
Questions
- Do heavy equipment operators make more in Grand Forks or Minot?
- Minot pays more: the median is $61,520 in Grand Forks and $62,990 in Minot, a 2% 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 24220 (Grand Forks, ND-MN). 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 (86.7, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures