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Pay · 45-2091

Agricultural Equipment Operators earn $41,730 a year at the midpoint

Starting pay is close to the middle here: the 25th percentile is $36,810 against a median of $41,730, so the first years are not a long climb.

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$41,730median a year · United States
$20.06an hour $43,710average 28,500people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$36,81025th $41,730median $48,10075th
$33,50010th percentile $58,65090th percentile
$36,810a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$58,770best-paying state · Montana
$32,060lowest-paying state · Arkansas
+41%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.”

A short climbThe 25th percentile, $36,810, is within 12% of the median.
State matters a lotThe same job pays $58,770 in Montana and $32,060 in Arkansas — a gap of $26,710 a year.

Agricultural equipment 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 →

Nearby work, and what it pays

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

Agricultural Equipment Operators$41,730
Agricultural Workers, All Other$39,850−$1,880 Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals$36,670−$5,060 Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse$35,660−$6,070

Number 673 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 15% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 671 Material Moving Workers, All Other $41,800
  2. 672 Telephone Operators $41,740
  3. 673 Agricultural Equipment Operators $41,730
  4. 674 Substitute Teachers, Short-Term $41,670
  5. 675 Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers $41,640

Agricultural equipment operator wages across the states

The 38 states where the most people do this work, of 40 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.83 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Montana $58,770 $28,790 $28,790 — $73,650 130
Louisiana $58,520 $32,190 $32,190 — $64,510 270
Delaware $49,910 $37,460 $37,460 — $60,330 40
Massachusetts $49,150 $36,430 $36,430 — $60,290 40
Minnesota $48,520 $38,630 $38,630 — $59,720 900
North Dakota $48,080 $39,020 $39,020 — $60,820 430
South Dakota $48,060 $38,480 $38,480 — $53,250 240
Virginia $47,890 $39,780 $39,780 — $60,910 120
Iowa $47,220 $37,020 $37,020 — $62,360 1,530
Ohio $47,220 $37,340 $37,340 — $59,640 600
Pennsylvania $47,100 $33,780 $33,780 — $60,590 390
Wisconsin $47,100 $36,430 $36,430 — $61,010 830
Nebraska $46,670 $37,900 $37,900 — $61,300 1,090
Maine $46,490 $46,490 $46,490 — $57,290 60
Missouri $46,490 $38,140 $38,140 — $74,990 900
Indiana $46,280 $39,100 $39,100 — $57,940 810
Illinois $46,050 $37,660 $37,660 — $58,300 1,910
Kansas $45,570 $38,120 $38,120 — $57,340 670
Oregon $44,150 $36,930 $36,930 — $53,880 310
Michigan $42,380 $30,320 $30,320 — $49,360 460
Kentucky $42,000 $36,940 $36,940 — $84,880 190
New Jersey $41,660 $35,790 $35,790 — $51,420 70
Maryland $39,580 $38,400 $38,400 — $50,890 180
North Carolina $39,580 $26,110 $26,110 — $49,240 550
Idaho $38,920 $30,320 $30,320 — $46,850 490
California $38,820 $35,620 $35,620 — $54,580 7,940
Washington $38,470 $36,610 $36,610 — $59,270 550
Tennessee $37,750 $26,380 $26,380 — $54,070 390
Florida $36,660 $30,060 $30,060 — $50,260 790
Arizona $36,600 $32,910 $32,910 — $42,510 730
Mississippi $36,460 $20,340 $20,340 — $43,430 280
New Mexico $35,580 $27,730 $27,730 — $46,000 130
Georgia $35,410 $28,890 $28,890 — $46,910 570
Oklahoma $34,900 $25,360 $25,360 — $73,570 170
South Carolina $34,490 $29,370 $29,370 — $46,180 380
Texas $34,260 $24,550 $24,550 — $44,720 2,200
Alabama $33,910 $27,360 $27,360 — $44,930 370
Arkansas $32,060 $28,760 $28,760 — $45,090 350

Agricultural equipment operator pay rate, from hourly to yearly

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

$41,725a year

A resume for agricultural equipment operators

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

Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft AccessFarm Management Software Hay and Crop ManagerMartens Farms Farm Site MateMartens Farms Farm Trac
  • Loaded and unloaded crops or containers of materials, manually or using conveyors, handtrucks, forklifts, or transferred augers.
  • Mixed specified materials or chemicals, and dumped solutions, powders, or seeds into planter or sprayer machinery.
  • Sprayed fertilizer or pesticide solutions to control insects, fungus and weed growth, and diseases, using hand sprayers.

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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.

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Questions people ask

What is an agricultural equipment operator’s yearly income?

An agricultural equipment operator makes a median of $41,730 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $36,810 and $48,100.

What is an agricultural equipment operator’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $20.06 an hour; the average is $43,710 a year.

What is the starting pay for an agricultural equipment operator?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $36,810 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $33,500.

Which state pays agricultural equipment operators the most?

Montana, with a median of $58,770 a year.

How many people work as agricultural equipment operators?

About 28,500 in the United States — number 673 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays roughly the same

Median pay within $70 of what agricultural equipment operators earn — $41,730 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations