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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Operating Engineers And Other Construction Equipment Operators Salary: Missouri vs New York

Operating Engineers And Other Construction Equipment Operators earn a median of $60,050 in Missouri and $80,260 in New York. That is a nominal gap of $20,210 (-25.2%), with New York paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$60,050
Missouri median
$66,122 after COL
$80,260
New York median
$74,369 after COL
-25.2%
Nominal gap
New York leads
-11.1%
Adjusted gap
New York leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, New York pays $20,210 more per year than Missouri for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, a gap of +25.2%.

After adjusting for cost of living, New York still comes out ahead, with roughly $8,247 of extra purchasing power (+11.1% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Operating Engineers And Other Construction Equipment Operators

Missouri

Median salary
$60,050
Mean salary
$66,670
Employment
8,750
Location quotient
0.99
Jobs per 1,000
3.0
COL-adjusted median
$66,122
Regional Price Parity
90.8%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Operating Engineers And Other Construction Equipment Operators page for Missouri →

Operating Engineers And Other Construction Equipment Operators

New York

Median salary
$80,260
Mean salary
$93,440
Employment
14,700
Location quotient
0.51
Jobs per 1,000
1.5
COL-adjusted median
$74,369
Regional Price Parity
107.9%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Operating Engineers And Other Construction Equipment Operators page for New York →

Related pages

Keep digging into operating engineers and other construction equipment operators from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.