Heavy equipment operator salary in Charleston, WV
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Heavy equipment operators in the Charleston, WV area earn a median of $57,640 a year, or $27.71 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $77,490 a year. That's 12% more than the West Virginia median of $51,300.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $18.00/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 940
- After cost of living
- $64,970
- Median hourly pay
- $27.71/hr
- vs U.S. median
- −4%
- vs West Virginia median
- +12%
- Mean (average) pay
- $56,170 a year · $27.01 an hour
Pay by percentile
What heavy equipment operators in Charleston, WV 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 | $18.00 | $37,440 |
| 25th percentile | $21.62 | $44,970 |
| Median (50th) | $27.71 | $57,640 |
| 75th percentile | $30.40 | $63,230 |
| 90th percentile | $37.25 | $77,490 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Charleston, WV compares
- Charleston ranks 4th of 10 West Virginia metro areas for heavy equipment operator pay.
- Heavy equipment operators are more concentrated in the Charleston area than nationally: 9.1 of every 1,000 jobs, 3.0 times the U.S. share.
Other West Virginia metro areas
Other trades in Charleston, WV
Questions
- Do heavy equipment operators make more in Charleston or Washington?
- Washington pays more: the median is $57,640 in Charleston and $61,660 in Washington, a 7% 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 16620 (Charleston, WV). 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 (88.7, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures