City of Baltimore / Heavy Equipment Operator
Role across City of Baltimore
Heavy Equipment Operator
Operate, maintain, and repair equipment or facilities, performing skilled hands-on work.
261 people hold the Heavy Equipment Operator role across 34 departments in City of Baltimore, with a median total compensation of $51,783. Among 12 jurisdictions where this role is reported, City of Baltimore ranks #6 by median pay.
- Employees
- 261
- Median pay
- $51,783
- Departments
- 34
- Cross-jurisdiction
- #6 of 12
Compared with the local labor market
Heavy Equipment Operator pay vs. the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD area
Across all employers in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD area, the median wage for Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators — about 3,350 people — is $60,740. City of Baltimore pays a median base salary of $52,047 for this role, 14% below that figure — about the 31st percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where City of Baltimore sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators across every employer in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows City of Baltimore’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators — about 478,090 people — is $59,850. City of Baltimore’s median base salary is 13% below that national figure, about the 33rd percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 253 of 261 people in this role paid at least $25,000in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at City of Baltimore is $51,783, 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.
Compare jurisdictions
Heavy Equipment Operator pay in other jurisdictions
Where Heavy Equipment Operators are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Heavy Equipment Operatorroles in other jurisdictions (highest first). Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not by identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for this role.
Within City of Baltimore
Departments with this role
Largest City of Baltimore departments for this role
Departments in City of Baltimoreemploying the most people in this role. Each bar links to that department’s page for the role.