Annual Salary, Salary Range, and Highest Paying States and Industries
Power Plant Operators
Power Plant Operators control, operate, or maintain machinery to generate electric power. Includes auxiliary equipment operators.
Table of contents
- Average salary
- Starting salary
- Salary rank
- Salary range
- Highest paying states
- Highest paying industries
Average salary
Starting salary
Entry-level Power Plant Operators with little to no experience can expect to make anywhere between $48,090 to $65,300 per year or $23 to $31 per hour. Similar to any other job, their salary will increase as they gain experience.
Salary rank
We wanted to make it easy for our readers to compare the salary of Power Plant Operators to all the other careers out there. So we created Salary Rank. We compared the salary of all careers then we gave them a rank of A, B, C, or D depending on where their average salary sit in comparison to other careers.
Salary range
Level | Hourly | Annual |
---|---|---|
Highest (Top 10%) | $54 | $111,470 |
Senior (Top 25%) | $48 | $99,890 |
Middle (Mid 50%) | $41 | $84,650 |
Junior (Bottom 25%) | $31 | $65,300 |
No experience (Bottom 10%) | $23 | $48,090 |
Highest paying states
State | Hourly | Annual |
---|---|---|
OR | $49 | $102,390 |
WA | $48 | $99,720 |
CA | $46 | $95,740 |
ND | $45 | $93,510 |
NJ | $44 | $91,700 |
MT | $44 | $90,470 |
NV | $43 | $90,460 |
HI | $43 | $90,410 |
NY | $43 | $89,700 |
MN | $43 | $89,580 |
Another simple way to increase your salary as a Power Plant Operator is to move to a higher paying state. However moving to a higher paying state like OR doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the expenses at OR might be much higher than where you are currently living at right now.
According to BLS, the highest paid Power Plant Operators are in the states of OR, WA, CA, ND and NJ.
Highest paying industries
Salary by industry | Annual | Hourly |
---|---|---|
Natural Gas Distribution | $103730 | $49.87 |
Federal Executive Branch | $94970 | $45.66 |
Commercial and Industrial Machinery and Equipment Repair and Maintenance | $85440 | $41.08 |
Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution | $84030 | $40.40 |
Management of Companies and Enterprises | $83430 | $40.11 |
Local Government | $77150 | $37.09 |
State Government | $76870 | $36.96 |
Waste Treatment and Disposal | $75490 | $36.29 |
Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services | $74530 | $35.83 |
Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Mills | $71920 | $34.58 |
Water, Sewage and Other Systems | $68190 | $32.78 |
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $64620 | $31.07 |
Facilities Support Services | $63510 | $30.53 |
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals | $62300 | $29.95 |
Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Hospitals | $44980 | $21.63 |