City of Charlotte / Charlotte Water Field Operations / Equipment Operator
Job-title file
Operate, maintain, and repair equipment or facilities, performing skilled hands-on work.
1 employee holds this title in Charlotte Water Field Operations. Median total compensation for the role is $51,168, below the department median of $61,069.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC area, the median wage for Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators — about 4,440 people — is $50,870. Charlotte Water Field Operations pays a median base salary of $51,168 for this role, in line with that figure — about the 51st percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators across every employer in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Charlotte Water Field Operations’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. Charlotte Water Field Operations’s median base salary is 15% below that national figure, about the 31st 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 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Charlotte Water Field Operations is $51,168, 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 departments
Equipment Operator is held in 5 City of Charlotte departments. In Charlotte Water Field Operations, the median of $51,168 ranks #5 of 5.
Median total compensation for the Equipment Operator role in other City of Charlottedepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 12 jurisdictions. In City of Charlotte, the median of $54,064 ranks #7 of 12. See Equipment Operator across all of City of Charlotte →
Median total compensation for comparable Equipment Operator roles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Same department
Record list
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Equipment Operator/Charlotte Water Field Operations
Source-specific fields
Alasia Gibbs is a Equipment Operator at Charlotte Water Field Operations within Cltwt. They work full-time. 2026 total compensation came to $51,168.