CRANE OPERATOR
MEDIAN PAY (BLS 2024)
Crane Operators nationwide earn a median of $32.89/hr per the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS 2024 survey. 41,570 crane operators employed across the U.S. See the state-by-state breakdown below — the highest-paying states often run 30%+ over the national median.
$32.89/hr median · $68,413 annualized (40 hr/wk × 52 wk)
Employment-weighted estimate from 50-state BLS OEWS data (the official BLS national row isn't in our dataset yet). State medians below are real BLS figures.
STATE-BY-STATE MEDIAN
BLS · sorted highest first| State | Median /hr | Top 10% /hr | Employed | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nevada | $62.47 | $63.74 | — | VIEW |
| Hawaii | $55.71 | $61.39 | 220 | VIEW |
| Oregon | $53.02 | $58.53 | 460 | VIEW |
| New York | $52.89 | — | 1,330 | VIEW |
| District of Columbia | $51.03 | $54.00 | 50 | VIEW |
| Washington | $46.57 | $61.83 | 890 | VIEW |
| Montana | $44.00 | $50.73 | 90 | VIEW |
| New Jersey | $42.54 | $65.79 | 740 | VIEW |
| Connecticut | $41.74 | $53.91 | 260 | VIEW |
| Alaska | $38.89 | $51.14 | 50 | VIEW |
| Michigan | $37.07 | $46.77 | 1,210 | VIEW |
| Massachusetts | $36.84 | $70.12 | 480 | VIEW |
| Wyoming | $36.59 | $41.26 | 120 | VIEW |
| North Dakota | $36.00 | $41.66 | 220 | VIEW |
| Colorado | $35.65 | $41.31 | 600 | VIEW |
| Vermont | $35.50 | $50.00 | 120 | VIEW |
| Idaho | $35.33 | $44.48 | — | VIEW |
| Texas | $35.03 | $44.25 | 6,650 | VIEW |
| Oklahoma | $34.38 | $42.28 | 540 | VIEW |
| South Dakota | $33.85 | $44.02 | 50 | VIEW |
| Florida | $33.72 | $46.78 | 2,460 | VIEW |
| California | $33.64 | $64.91 | 2,010 | VIEW |
| Utah | $33.18 | $43.52 | 510 | VIEW |
| Wisconsin | $32.84 | $50.44 | 730 | VIEW |
| Arizona | $32.67 | $42.71 | 1,110 | VIEW |
| Minnesota | $32.36 | $48.46 | 170 | VIEW |
| Georgia | $32.32 | $38.10 | 1,780 | VIEW |
| Nebraska | $32.11 | $38.02 | 290 | VIEW |
| Maryland | $32.11 | $42.33 | 310 | VIEW |
| Virginia | $31.44 | $41.26 | 1,280 | VIEW |
| Kansas | $30.98 | $37.80 | 620 | VIEW |
| New Hampshire | $30.48 | $41.37 | 190 | VIEW |
| Delaware | $30.20 | $39.70 | 70 | VIEW |
| Mississippi | $30.05 | $40.34 | 770 | VIEW |
| Ohio | $30.03 | $47.60 | 2,120 | VIEW |
| North Carolina | $29.84 | $39.80 | 1,100 | VIEW |
| Maine | $29.48 | $40.96 | 430 | VIEW |
| Louisiana | $29.39 | $39.66 | 1,750 | VIEW |
| New Mexico | $29.30 | $41.67 | 110 | VIEW |
| Indiana | $27.83 | $42.51 | 1,600 | VIEW |
| Pennsylvania | $27.77 | $51.83 | 1,650 | VIEW |
| Tennessee | $27.18 | $41.50 | 500 | VIEW |
| Iowa | $26.74 | $39.24 | 570 | VIEW |
| South Carolina | $26.64 | $40.23 | 980 | VIEW |
| Kentucky | $26.49 | $40.37 | 770 | VIEW |
| West Virginia | $26.27 | $44.74 | 200 | VIEW |
| Illinois | $25.60 | $65.94 | 1,100 | VIEW |
| Alabama | $22.90 | $35.29 | 1,170 | VIEW |
| Missouri | $22.39 | $47.20 | 470 | VIEW |
| Arkansas | $20.27 | $31.92 | 670 | VIEW |
TOP-PAYING METROS
DAVIS-BACON PREVAILING WAGES
LOOK UP DIRECTFederal construction work (LNG terminals, military bases, GSA, VA, federal infrastructure) uses Davis-Bacon prevailing wage determinations as a legal wage floor — base + fringe benefits, set per county per construction type. If you're on a federally-funded project paying below the WD, the contractor is out of compliance and you can file a WH-3.
Rates change frequently and are county-specific, so we link direct instead of caching stale numbers. Look up the active Wage Determination for your job at sam.gov/wage-determinations or dol.gov/whd/government-contracts.
Anonymous by default. The next hand reads what you post.
16 other trades. State medians + Davis-Bacon + per diem in one spot.