Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, aged to 2026 using compounded market movement. State selections show BLS state-level figures where published. Actual pay varies with experience, industry, and organization size.
Typical education: Less than a High School Diploma
Inspect equipment for safety prior to use, and perform necessary basic maintenance tasks.
Control hydraulic tractors equipped with tree clamps and booms to lift, swing, and bunch sheared trees.
Grade logs according to characteristics such as knot size and straightness, and according to established industry or company standards.
Drive straight or articulated tractors equipped with accessories such as bulldozer blades, grapples, logging arches, cable winches, and crane booms to skid, load, unload, or stack logs, pull stumps, or clear brush.
Drive crawler or wheeled tractors to drag or transport logs from felling sites to log landing areas for processing and loading.
Top skills:Operation and ControlOperations MonitoringEquipment MaintenanceTroubleshootingQuality Control AnalysisMonitoring
Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
Logging Equipment Operator pay by experience level
Entry level$36,500
Typical starting pay (about the 10th percentile)
Early career$45,500
A few years in (about the 25th percentile)
Experienced$51,500
Mid-career median pay
Senior$63,000
Seasoned professionals (about the 75th percentile)
Top earners$77,000
Highest earners (about the 90th percentile)
Experience tiers are derived from the BLS wage percentile distribution for this occupation, aged to 2026. Actual pay varies by employer, location, and specialization.
Job outlook
-1.4%
projected change in jobs, 2024–2034
4,200
projected openings per year
Declining
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program (2024–2034). Openings include growth and replacement needs.
Logging Equipment Operator salary by industry
Forestry and Logging
16,680 workers
$56,500
Logging
16,680 workers
$56,500
Wood Product Manufacturing
2,910 workers
$45,500
Sawmills and Wood Preservation
2,570 workers
$45,000
Veneer, Plywood, and Engineered Wood Product Manufacturing
230 workers
$50,500
Truck Transportation
150 workers
$64,000
Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods
120 workers
$39,500
Other Wood Product Manufacturing
110 workers
$39,000
Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction
50 workers
$54,500
Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction
50 workers
$54,000
National sector-level figures, BLS OEWS May 2025, aged to 2026.
How this role compares
Logging Equipment Operator pays 9% above the average across 13 roles in the Farming, Fishing, and Forestry job family (family average $50,500).
Similar-paying roles in Farming, Fishing, and Forestry
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