Engineering Equipment Operating

Across all employers in the United States, the median wage for Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators — about 478,090 people — is $59,850. Department of Energy pays a median base salary of $121,693 for this role, 103% above that figure — above the 90th percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Median total compensation for this role at Department of Energy is $121,693, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.

Engineering Equipment Operating is held in 10 U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense) departments. In Department of Energy, the median of $121,693 ranks #1 of 10.