Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,324
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$12,356
20.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,950
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — 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
$61,680
Kept after tax
$49,324
Worth in national money
$53,950
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Idaho sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $61,680, ranking 23 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Idaho, this sits in the middle: 185 of 476 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $61,680 you keep $49,324 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $53,950 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $63,920, since top earners drag the number up.
- Idaho occupies the middle band for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators: a median of $61,680, ranking 23 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators ranks 185 of 476 occupations in Idaho by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Idaho is $49,324 after the full tax stack, from $61,680. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,950 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $63,920 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,650 |
| This salary | $61,680 |
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 Idaho | $49,324 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,740 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$706 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $58,673 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$854 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of operating engineers and other construction equipment operators in Idaho earn under $61,680 and half over. The published range runs $47,230 at the tenth percentile to $79,650 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Idaho's $49,324, worked from $61,680. 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 185 of 476.
- One number stands for prices across all of Idaho, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $53,950, the adjusted value of that $61,680 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 185 of 476 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators in Idaho, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,230 to $79,650; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Idaho take-home of $49,324, on $61,680 for work ranking 185 of 476 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 185 of 476 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Idaho, so $53,950 — the adjusted value of that $61,680 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 185 of 476 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 $63,920, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $47,230 and the top tenth $79,650, so most people doing this work in Idaho sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Idaho sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $53,950 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Idaho adds its own income tax on top — which is why $49,324 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 Idaho is $63,920. 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 ($47,230 to $79,650) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Idaho rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Idaho's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $53,950 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $49,324 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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.