Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,496
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$17,084
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,795
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$79,580
Kept after tax
$62,496
Worth in national money
$67,795
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Indiana's middle earner gets $79,580, putting the state 7 of 51 — about 32.97% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Indiana. It ranks 109 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $79,580 you keep $62,496 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $67,795 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $75,300.
- For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, Indiana sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $79,580, ranking 7 of 51 and running about 32.97% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within Indiana, operating engineers and other construction equipment operators ranks 109 of 493 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.
- Retained pay in Indiana is $62,496 after the full tax stack, from $79,580. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $67,795 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $75,300 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,850 |
| This salary | $79,580 |
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 Indiana | $62,496 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,815 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,097 |
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 | $76,285 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,515 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Indiana earn less than $79,580. The published range is $47,630 up to $98,850, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Indiana the take-home figure of $62,496, from $79,580, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 109 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $67,795, the adjusted value of that $79,580 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Indiana. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 109 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $47,630 to $98,850. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Indiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $62,496 from $79,580. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 109 of 493 locally.
- This $67,795 adjusted figure, worked from $79,580, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 109 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 109 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $75,300 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $47,630 and the top tenth $98,850, so most people doing this work in Indiana sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Indiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $67,795 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Indiana then takes its own share, leaving $62,496.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Indiana is $75,300. 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 ($47,630 to $98,850) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $67,795 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 $62,496 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.