Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$82,975
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$32,885
28.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,398
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$115,860
Kept after tax
$82,975
Worth in national money
$76,398
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Hawaii pays this job a middle wage of $115,860, ranking 1 of 51 states and sitting about 93.58% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Hawaii. It ranks 48 out of 437 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $115,860, tax leaves $82,975 — and because Hawaii is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $76,398 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $102,020.
- Hawaii's median for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators is $115,860, about 93.58% above the national figure and 1 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Hawaii, operating engineers and other construction equipment operators ranks 48 of 437 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After tax, $82,975 remains from the Hawaii median of $115,860 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $76,398 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $102,020 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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 | $62,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $115,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,590 |
| This salary | $115,860 |
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 Hawaii | $82,975 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $90,338 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$16,566 |
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 | $105,395 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$22,882 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Hawaii earn less than $115,860. The published range is $62,390 up to $129,590, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $82,975 take-home in Hawaii comes from $115,860. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 48 of 437.
- One number stands for prices across all of Hawaii, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $76,398, the adjusted value of that $115,860 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 48 of 437 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators in Hawaii the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $62,390 to $129,590. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $82,975, from $115,860, assumes a single Hawaii filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 48 of 437 locally, and the state ranks 1 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Hawaii, so $76,398 — the adjusted value of that $115,860 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 48 of 437 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $102,020, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $62,390 at the bottom tenth to $129,590 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Hawaii costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $76,398 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Hawaii's own levy, $82,975 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Hawaii is $102,020. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($62,390 to $129,590) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Hawaii rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $76,398 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 $82,975 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.