Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,342
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$8,968
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,853
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$49,310
Kept after tax
$40,342
Worth in national money
$42,853
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Carolina pays this job a middle wage of $49,310, 45 of 51 states and about 17.61% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations North Carolina reports figures for, this is number 289.
- Here is where North Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,310 you keep $40,342, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $42,853 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $52,310, because the best-paid pull it up.
- North Carolina's $49,310 median for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators places it 45 of 51 states, about 17.61% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- In North Carolina's occupational distribution, operating engineers and other construction equipment operators sits at 289 of 489 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and North Carolina income tax, retained pay for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators on $49,310 is $40,342. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $42,853 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $52,310 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,050 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,450 |
| This salary | $49,310 |
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 North Carolina | $40,342 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,801 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$162 |
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 | $47,495 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$196 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,310 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,050 and the ninetieth is $64,450 — 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 North Carolina's $40,342, worked from $49,310. 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 289 of 489.
- Two cautions on $42,853, the adjusted value of that $49,310 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. 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 289 of 489 locally.
- The North Carolina median of $49,310 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,050 to $64,450. 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 North Carolina take-home of $40,342, on $49,310 for work ranking 289 of 489 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 289 of 489 in the state.
- This $42,853 adjusted figure, worked from $49,310, 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 289 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 289 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $52,310, 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 $39,050 at the bottom tenth to $64,450 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Carolina sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $42,853 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 North Carolina's own levy, $40,342 remains.
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 North Carolina is $52,310. 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 ($39,050 to $64,450) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $42,853 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 $40,342 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.