Careers / Logging Equipment Operators
Logging Equipment Operators — Career Decision Dashboard
United States
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Report generated from official BLS OEWS and O*NET data — United States.
Median annual wage
$49,740
United States, 2025
Employment
21,060
United States, 2025
Typical education
Less than a High School Diploma
Job Zone 2
Skills identified
35
10 related careers
Career overview
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.
- O*NET code
- 45-4022.00
- Job zone
- 2
- Experience required
- None
Typical tasks
- 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.
- Fill out required job or shift report forms.
- Drive tractors for building or repairing logging and skid roads.
- Drive and maneuver tractors and tree harvesters to shear the tops off of trees, cut and limb the trees, and cut the logs into desired lengths.
Choose a location
Salary analysis — United States
10th percentile
$35,170
25th percentile
$43,970
75th percentile
$61,050
90th percentile
$74,300
Most important skills
- Operation and Control4.0
- Operations Monitoring3.8
- Equipment Maintenance3.1
- Active Listening3.0
- Troubleshooting3.0
- Monitoring3.0
- Quality Control Analysis3.0
- Judgment and Decision Making2.9
- Repairing2.9
- Critical Thinking2.9
- Complex Problem Solving2.9
- Time Management2.9
What skills do you need?
Select the skills you already have
Skills listed are those O*NET rates at importance 3.0 or above for this occupation. Set your own level on the same 0–7 O*NET scale.
Skill coverage
0%
0 of 7 identified skills
Matched
0
Missing
7
Your selected skills cover approximately 0% of the skills identified for this occupation in O*NET. This is a coverage measure of listed skills only — it is not a qualification, hiring or interview outcome.
Skills to develop
| Skill | Importance | Required level | Your level | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operation and Control | 4.0 | 4.0 | Not selected | 4.0 |
| Operations Monitoring | 3.8 | 3.9 | Not selected | 3.9 |
| Equipment Maintenance | 3.1 | 3.0 | Not selected | 3.0 |
| Troubleshooting | 3.0 | 3.0 | Not selected | 3.0 |
| Monitoring | 3.0 | 3.0 | Not selected | 3.0 |
| Quality Control Analysis | 3.0 | 3.0 | Not selected | 3.0 |
| Active Listening | 3.0 | 2.3 | Not selected | 2.3 |
Ordered by required level gap multiplied by O*NET importance. No prediction or recommendation is implied.
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Compare with Logging Equipment OperatorsHow salary varies by location
| Location | Median | Employment | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bellingham, WA | $77,310 | 50 | 2025 |
| Longview, WA | $76,980 | 180 | 2025 |
| WA | $75,140 | 1,150 | 2025 |
| Spokane, WA | $75,140 | 110 | 2025 |
| Olympia, WA | $74,790 | 110 | 2025 |
| Mount Vernon, WA | $71,620 | 30 | 2025 |
| IL | $71,100 | 40 | 2025 |
| Portland, OR | $64,520 | 290 | 2025 |
| Houston, TX | $63,580 | 70 | 2025 |
| TX | $62,890 | 500 | 2025 |
| Salem, OR | $62,740 | 100 | 2025 |
| CA | $61,940 | 950 | 2025 |
| Redding, CA | $60,600 | 90 | 2025 |
| Alexandria, LA | $60,410 | 60 | 2025 |
| Corvallis, OR | $59,290 | 50 | 2025 |
| Duluth, MN | $59,130 | 40 | 2025 |
| SD | $58,740 | 50 | 2025 |
| OR | $58,720 | 1,860 | 2025 |
| LA | $58,600 | 770 | 2025 |
| MN | $58,590 | 320 | 2025 |
Career transition paths
Compare the skills of a career you hold today with Logging Equipment Operators to see shared skills, target-only skills and skill overlap.
Build a transition comparisonCareer and skills data: O*NET 31.0.
Salary and employment data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, 2025 (May 2025 release).
Figures are periodic published survey snapshots, not real-time market rates.