Logging Equipment Operators
SOC 45-4022 · 2024-2034
Drive logging tractor or wheeled vehicle equipped with one or more accessories, such as bulldozer blade, frontal shear, grapple, logging arch, cable winches, hoisting rack, or crane boom, to fell tree; to skid, load, unload, or stack logs; or to pull stumps or clear brush. Includes operating stand-alone logging machines, such as log chippers.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $63,618per year
- Projected openings
- 2,000
- Projected change
- +7.7%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
Skills this work uses most
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.
- Operation and Control
- Operations Monitoring
- Equipment Maintenance
- Active Listening
- Monitoring
- Troubleshooting
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties) | $64,039 | 200 |
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $63,915 | 580 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $63,678 | 560 |
| Redding MSA (Shasta County) | $61,764 | 240 |
| Chico MSA (Butte County) | $61,445 | 50 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $51,735
- A quarter earn under
- $62,540
- Half earn under
- $63,618
- Three quarters earn under
- $75,460
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $129,937
A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.
Similar work
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.
| Occupation | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators | $89,521 | 33,360 | +7% |
| Continuous Mining Machine Operators | $64,491 | 1,350 | +20% |
| Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators | $48,816 | 100,140 | +11.4% |
| Agricultural Equipment Operators | $39,872 | 26,200 | +7.4% |
| Crane and Tower Operators | $81,312 | 1,960 | +4.8% |
Programs that train for this job — 6
Heavy Equipment Logging Operations and Maintenance Certificate
Shasta College · Redding · $1,408
Heavy Equipment Operations (Level 1)
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Training Academy · Bakersfield · $1,950
HED130: Heavy Equipment Operator Truck Driver - Level 3
College of Instrument Technology · Bellflower · $19,999
HED110: Heavy Equipment Operator Truck Driver - Level 1
College of Instrument Technology · Bellflower · $9,999
HED150: Heavy Equipment Operator Truck Driver - Level 5
College of Instrument Technology · Bellflower · $35,499
HED120: Heavy Equipment Operator Truck Driver- Level 2
College of Instrument Technology · Bellflower · $14,499