Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians
SOC 49-3041 · 2024-2034
Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul farm machinery and vehicles, such as tractors, harvesters, dairy equipment, and irrigation systems.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $55,311per year
- Projected openings
- 4,900
- Projected change
- +5.4%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
Bright Outlook — a U.S. Department of Labor designation
Rapid Growth
The Department's own designation, made from its national projections. It is not this project's assessment and it is not California's: every other figure on this page comes from California's projection, which can point the other way and for some occupations does.
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.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Repairing
- Troubleshooting
- Operation and Control
- Critical Thinking
- Quality Control Analysis
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) | $79,135 | 100 |
| Vallejo MSA (Solano County) | $78,090 | 40 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties) | $71,959 | 80 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County) | $64,832 | 200 |
| Merced MSA (Merced County) | $63,097 | 250 |
| Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County) | $63,097 | 300 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $62,993 | 210 |
| Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties) | $62,737 | 100 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County) | $61,844 | 130 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $57,150 | 160 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County) | $53,833 | 380 |
| Napa MSA (Napa County) | $53,402 | 110 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County) | $52,570 | 90 |
| Chico MSA (Butte County) | $51,913 | 80 |
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $50,352 | 60 |
| Visalia MSA (Tulare County) | $50,157 | 390 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County) | $49,643 | 480 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $49,602 | 250 |
| Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County) | $49,397 | 240 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $48,863 | 280 |
| Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County) | $48,062 | 670 |
| Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County) | $48,000 | 80 |
| Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties) | $47,702 | 640 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $39,650
- A quarter earn under
- $46,941
- Half earn under
- $55,311
- Three quarters earn under
- $78,241
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $85,552
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines | $80,771 | 18,430 | +6.8% |
| Industrial Machinery Mechanics | $76,504 | 28,510 | +13.8% |
| Millwrights | $80,154 | 2,010 | 0% |
| Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics | $52,226 | 2,610 | +3.7% |
| Maintenance and Repair Workers, General | $58,612 | 151,500 | +7.3% |
| Maintenance Workers, Machinery | $69,758 | 3,750 | 0% |
Programs that train for this job — 2
Heavy Equipment Operator Technician (Certificate)
Butte College · Oroville · $2,045
Heavy Equipment Technician (Agriculture)- BC
Kern Community College District · Bakersfield · $3,720