Pay · 53-7041
Hoist and Winch Operators earn $56,450 a year at the midpoint
Only about 2,600 people do this work in the United States, and half of them earn more than $56,450 a year. The lowest tenth are paid about $35,640, the highest tenth about $118,210.
National figures for hoist and winch operators, 53-7041, from the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
- 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.”
Hoist and winch operator earnings, from starting pay up to the top 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.
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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 →
Place 451 of 788 by median pay
Better paid than 43% of the occupations in the survey.
- 449 Model Makers, Wood $56,550
- 450 Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles $56,460
- 451 Hoist and Winch Operators $56,450
- 452 Rail Transportation Workers, All Other $56,360
- 453 Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers $56,210
Hoist and winch operator wages in each state
The 15 states where the most people do this work, of 16 with a published figure: their medians range by 3.52 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.
| State | Median a year | Where most start | 10th to 90th | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | $118,210 | $118,210 | $118,210 — $118,210 | 320 |
| Hawaii | $107,100 | $80,990 | $80,990 — $127,940 | 120 |
| Maryland | $99,840 | $79,550 | $79,550 — $99,840 | 140 |
| Minnesota | $78,400 | $51,040 | $51,040 — $78,400 | 60 |
| New York | $74,980 | $41,690 | $41,690 — $103,220 | 110 |
| Massachusetts | $62,240 | $57,000 | $57,000 — $109,440 | — |
| Oregon | $55,880 | $40,130 | $40,130 — $72,660 | 70 |
| Missouri | $47,510 | $46,160 | $46,160 — $56,450 | 40 |
| Michigan | $40,070 | $32,010 | $32,010 — $56,290 | 50 |
| Tennessee | $39,930 | $30,940 | $30,940 — $52,630 | 40 |
| Indiana | $39,750 | $37,620 | $37,620 — $66,940 | 120 |
| Georgia | $37,870 | $31,960 | $31,960 — $52,760 | 90 |
| Virginia | $37,020 | $29,550 | $29,550 — $45,970 | 40 |
| Wisconsin | $36,560 | $34,720 | $34,720 — $41,690 | 80 |
| Florida | $33,570 | $28,070 | $28,070 — $74,130 | 120 |
No estimate is published for 1 states: the survey withholds a figure when too few employers report it. Nothing has been filled in for them.
A resume for hoist and winch operators
Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.
- Signaled and assisted other workers loading or unloading materials.
- Observed equipment gauges and indicators and hand signals of other workers to verify load positions or depths.
- Started engines of hoists or winches and use levers and pedals to wind or unwind cable on drums.
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.
Examples
Resumes written for this kind of work.
Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.
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Hoist and winch operator 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.
Questions people often ask
What is a hoist and winch operator’s yearly income?
A hoist and winch operator makes a median of $56,450 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $42,690 and $94,350.
What is a hoist and winch operator’s hourly pay rate?
The median pay rate is $27.14 an hour; the average is $67,710 a year.
What is the starting pay for a hoist and winch operator?
Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $42,690 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $35,640.
Which state pays hoist and winch operators the most?
Illinois, with a median of $118,210 a year.
How many people work as hoist and winch operators?
About 2,600 in the United States — number 451 of 788 occupations by median pay.
Work that pays nearly the same
Median pay within $100 of what hoist and winch operators earn — $56,450 a year — but not always the same spread.
- $10 more Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles $56,460median a year 10th percentile: $37,600 90th percentile: $96,700
- $90 less Rail Transportation Workers, All Other $56,360median a year 10th percentile: $40,080 90th percentile: $83,190
- $100 more Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians $56,550median a year 10th percentile: $37,470 90th percentile: $78,740