Tennessee · BLS May 2025
Also called operating engineer. SOC 47-2073.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 10,660 operating engineers and other construction equipment operators working in Tennessee. Here is what they are paid, what the median leaves after federal and FICA tax, and what that is worth against local prices.
Median pay · Tennessee
$52,000A year, or $25.00 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentileEntry and lowest-paid | $41,600 | $20.00 |
| 25th percentile | $46,490 | $22.35 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $52,000 | $25.00 |
| 75th percentile | $59,360 | $28.54 |
| 90th percentileMost experienced and senior | $75,430 | $36.27 |
| MeanThe average, pulled up by the top | $55,050 | $26.47 |
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
A $52,000 salary in Tennessee, for one single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026.
Prices in Tennessee sit at 91.9 against a national average of 100, so $52,000 earned here buys what $56,602 buys at national average prices.
Common questions
The median wage for heavy equipment operators in Tennessee is $52,000 a year, or $25.00 an hour.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
On the median wage of $52,000, one filer taking the standard deduction keeps about $43,962 a year, or roughly $3,664 a month.
That is after federal and FICA tax, an effective rate of 15.5%.
Tennessee levies no state income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld for it.
No. The median in Tennessee is 13.1% below the national median of $59,850.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Tennessee sit at 91.9 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
It is 0.75 times the median household income of $69,595. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Tennessee run at 91.9 against a national average of 100, with rents at 79.1, so $52,000 here buys about what $56,602 buys at national average prices.
The top tenth earn $75,430 a year or more, against $41,600 at the bottom tenth.
Experience, specialism, employer and the part of Tennessee someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
The survey counted 10,660 of these jobs in Tennessee for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 6% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.
Sources