beta
Write my resume

Pay · 53-6011

Bridge and Lock Tenders earn $57,700 a year at the midpoint

Only about 3,040 people do this work in the United States, and half of them earn more than $57,700 a year. The lowest tenth are paid about $28,090, the highest tenth about $75,360.

Write my resume for this job →

$57,700median a year · United States
$27.74an hour $55,370average 3,040people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$38,64025th $57,700median $69,62075th
$28,09010th percentile $75,36090th percentile
$38,640a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$78,020best-paying state · Washington
$28,090lowest-paying state · Florida
+35%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

State matters a lotThe same job pays $78,020 in Washington and $28,090 in Florida — a gap of $49,930 a year.

Bridge and lock tender earnings, from starting pay to the highest 10%

Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.

Experience
Name this figure
When they ask “What are your salary expectations?”

An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →

Examples

Resumes made for this kind of work.

Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.

All templates →

Related work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Bridge and Lock Tenders$57,700
Transportation Inspectors$92,100+$34,400 Traffic Technicians$59,090+$1,390 Passenger Attendants$37,720−$19,980 Parking Attendants$35,150−$22,550

Place 434 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 45% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 432 Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders $58,040
  2. 433 Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic $58,000
  3. 434 Bridge and Lock Tenders $57,700
  4. 435 Plasterers and Stucco Masons $57,660
  5. 436 Motorboat Mechanics and Service Technicians $57,550

Bridge and lock tender pay rate, hourly to annual

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$57,699a year

Bridge and lock tender wages, state by state

The 20 states where the most people do this work, of 23 with a published figure: their medians range by 2.78 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Washington $78,020 $70,260 $70,260 — $83,930 50
Mississippi $74,730 $31,250 $31,250 — $74,730 50
Minnesota $74,420 $63,810 $63,810 — $77,710 60
California $72,390 $48,440 $48,440 — $86,960 80
Illinois $70,890 $55,190 $55,190 — $86,390 290
Iowa $70,890 $63,360 $63,360 — $74,420 50
Pennsylvania $68,810 $61,570 $61,570 — $72,920 110
Alabama $66,830 $49,900 $49,900 — $74,730 70
West Virginia $65,460 $60,760 $60,760 — $69,620 60
Indiana $60,780 $48,420 $48,420 — $71,610 60
Tennessee $60,420 $49,900 $49,900 — $65,060 60
Ohio $58,410 $44,500 $44,500 — $72,920 110
Kentucky $58,220 $47,410 $47,410 — $71,610 100
Wisconsin $57,350 $41,260 $41,260 — $75,000 110
New York $51,560 $32,240 $32,240 — $71,360 210
Michigan $50,540 $32,210 $32,210 — $75,520 130
Texas $45,820 $31,850 $31,850 — $74,240 70
North Carolina $41,380 $34,230 $34,230 — $45,860 50
Louisiana $39,090 $33,390 $33,390 — $81,100 370
Florida $28,090 $27,040 $27,040 — $50,640 470

A resume for bridge and lock tenders

Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.

Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft WordSAP softwareOracle PeopleSoftEmail softwareVirtual private networking VPN software
  • Controlled machinery to open and close canal locks and dams, railroad or highway drawbridges, or horizontally or vertically adjustable bridges.
  • Directed movements of vessels in locks or bridge areas, using signals, telecommunication equipment, or loudspeakers.
  • Observed position and progress of vessels to ensure best use of lock spaces or bridge opening spaces.

Write my resume →

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Questions people ask

What is a bridge and lock tender’s yearly income?

A bridge and lock tender makes a median of $57,700 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $38,640 and $69,620.

What is a bridge and lock tender’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $27.74 an hour; the average is $55,370 a year.

What is the starting pay for a bridge and lock tender?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $38,640 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $28,090.

Which state pays bridge and lock tenders the most?

Washington, with a median of $78,020 a year.

How many people work as bridge and lock tenders?

About 3,040 in the United States — number 434 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays nearly the same

Median pay within $310 of what bridge and lock tenders earn — $57,700 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations