Heavy equipment operator salary in Columbus, OH
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Heavy equipment operators in the Columbus, OH area earn a median of $78,950 a year, or $37.96 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $99,390. Across all of Ohio, the median is $64,940, so Columbus pays 22% more than the state as a whole.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $24.33/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 3,290
- After cost of living
- $82,700
- Median hourly pay
- $37.96/hr
- vs U.S. median
- +32%
- vs Ohio median
- +22%
- Mean (average) pay
- $78,470 a year · $37.72 an hour
Pay by percentile
What heavy equipment operators in Columbus, OH 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 | $24.33 | $50,610 |
| 25th percentile | $29.83 | $62,050 |
| Median (50th) | $37.96 | $78,950 |
| 75th percentile | $46.05 | $95,780 |
| 90th percentile | $47.79 | $99,390 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Columbus, OH compares
- Columbus has the highest heavy equipment operator median of the 15 Ohio metro areas with published pay.
- Heavy equipment operators hold about the same share of jobs in the Columbus area as nationally: 3.0 of every 1,000 jobs.
Other Ohio metro areas
Other trades in Columbus, OH
Questions
- Do heavy equipment operators make more in Columbus or Cleveland?
- Columbus pays more: the median is $78,950 in Columbus and $71,740 in Cleveland, a 10% 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 18140 (Columbus, OH). 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 (95.5, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures