Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,775
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$16,505
21.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,133
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$75,280
Kept after tax
$58,775
Worth in national money
$63,133
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Wisconsin's middle earner gets $75,280, putting the state 12 of 51 — about 25.78% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 147 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $75,280 you keep $58,775, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $63,133 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $77,770, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, Wisconsin sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $75,280, ranking 12 of 51 and running about 25.78% 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.
- Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators ranks 147 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators on $75,280 is $58,775. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $63,133 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 $77,770 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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 | $51,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $75,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,140 |
| This salary | $75,280 |
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 Wisconsin | $58,775 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,789 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$453 |
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 | $70,995 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$625 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $75,280. The published range is $51,370 up to $100,140, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $58,775 take-home in Wisconsin comes from $75,280. 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 147 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $63,133 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 147.
- Reported values are medians; for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $51,370 to $100,140. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $58,775, from $75,280, assumes a single Wisconsin 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 147 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $63,133, worked from $75,280, 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 Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 147 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $77,770, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $51,370 at the tenth percentile, $100,140 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $63,133 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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $58,775 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Wisconsin is $77,770. 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 ($51,370 to $100,140) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $63,133 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 $58,775 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.