Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,133
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$21,027
24.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,743
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$87,160
Kept after tax
$66,133
Worth in national money
$58,743
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $87,160, which ranks 4 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 45.63% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 163 among 492 occupations California publishes pay for.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $87,160 the take-home is $66,133; in national-average money that behaves like $58,743. The average comes to $94,000, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- California ranks 4 of 51 states publishing a median for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, at $87,160 — about 45.63% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 163 of 492 in California places operating engineers and other construction equipment operators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Take-home for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators in California, on $87,160, is $66,133; deflated by the state's price level, $58,743. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $94,000 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $87,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $132,210 |
| This salary | $87,160 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in California | $66,133 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $70,147 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,444 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $81,454 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$18,570 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $87,160 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $52,760 and the ninetieth is $132,210 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind California's $66,133, worked from $87,160. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 163 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $58,743 uses one figure for the whole of California. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 163.
- The California median of $87,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $52,760 to $132,210. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The California take-home of $66,133, on $87,160 for work ranking 163 of 492 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 163 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $58,743, worked from $87,160, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular California address, on work sitting at 163 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $94,000, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $52,760 and the top tenth $132,210 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in California run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $58,743 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and California adds its own income tax on top — which is why $66,133 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in California is $94,000. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($52,760) and the ninetieth ($132,210) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $58,743 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $66,133 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.