Heavy equipment operator salary in Johnson City, TN
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Heavy equipment operators in the Johnson City, TN area earn a median of $47,560 a year, or $22.87 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $63,750 a year. That's 9% less than the Tennessee median of $52,000.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $18.46/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 200
- After cost of living
- $54,090
- Median hourly pay
- $22.87/hr
- vs U.S. median
- −21%
- vs Tennessee median
- −9%
- Mean (average) pay
- $50,120 a year · $24.10 an hour
Pay by percentile
What heavy equipment operators in Johnson City, TN 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 | $18.46 | $38,400 |
| 25th percentile | $21.37 | $44,440 |
| Median (50th) | $22.87 | $47,560 |
| 75th percentile | $26.76 | $55,660 |
| 90th percentile | $30.65 | $63,750 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Johnson City, TN compares
- Johnson City ranks 9th of 10 Tennessee metro areas for heavy equipment operator pay.
- Heavy equipment operators are less concentrated in the Johnson City area than nationally: 2.4 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.79 times the U.S. share.
Other Tennessee metro areas
Other trades in Johnson City, TN
Questions
- Do heavy equipment operators make more in Johnson City or Nashville?
- Nashville pays more: the median is $47,560 in Johnson City and $56,030 in Nashville, a 15% 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 27740 (Johnson City, TN). 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 (87.9, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures