Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators salary

SOC 51-8031 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$60,020

per year, nationally

Middle half

$48,040–$74,780

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

128,490

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-6.5%

10,700 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$39,110$91,060

10th: $39,110
25th: $48,040
Median: $60,020
75th: $74,780
90th: $91,060

Getting in

Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Long-term on-the-job training

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	California	$81,770	110.7	11,630	0.77×
2	Nevada	$81,440	100.0	—	—
3	Washington	$80,800	107.0	2,030	0.69×
4	Connecticut	$78,820	103.6	980	0.70×
5	New Jersey	$78,760	108.8	2,500	0.71×
6	Minnesota	$74,670	98.6	2,290	0.94×
7	Colorado	$74,200	103.1	2,620	1.10×
8	Oregon	$69,720	103.4	1,240	0.77×
9	Massachusetts	$68,550	105.8	2,510	0.84×
10	Illinois	$67,810	100.0	3,500	0.69×
11	Hawaii	$65,560	110.0	610	1.17×
12	Delaware	$64,940	99.8	340	0.85×
13	New York	$63,990	107.9	5,300	0.66×
14	Vermont	$63,640	98.0	320	1.28×
15	Wisconsin	$63,550	94.1	2,230	0.92×
16	Pennsylvania	$63,310	97.6	4,660	0.93×
17	Wyoming	$63,260	92.7	500	2.17×
18	New Hampshire	$62,940	104.2	510	0.89×
19	Maine	$61,870	97.0	710	1.34×
20	Maryland	$61,870	105.0	1,770	0.77×
21	Rhode Island	$61,820	102.3	420	1.01×
22	Arizona	$61,340	100.7	3,950	1.48×
23	Utah	$61,290	98.9	1,900	1.33×
24	Nebraska	$61,220	90.1	740	0.88×
25	Iowa	$60,990	87.8	2,370	1.84×
26	North Dakota	$60,470	89.0	550	1.56×
27	Alaska	$60,160	102.4	750	2.79×
28	Virginia	$59,420	101.1	3,460	1.02×
29	Michigan	$59,270	96.2	3,400	0.93×
30	Ohio	$59,170	92.8	5,870	1.28×
31	Florida	$59,030	103.4	7,440	0.91×
32	Montana	$58,040	94.6	690	1.64×
33	Indiana	$53,540	93.3	3,140	1.19×
34	South Dakota	$53,370	88.6	1,060	2.82×
35	Idaho	$52,210	95.5	1,480	2.08×
36	South Carolina	$52,090	93.7	2,650	1.39×
37	Alabama	$51,870	88.8	2,770	1.59×
38	North Carolina	$51,680	94.3	3,620	0.89×
39	Tennessee	$50,670	91.9	3,140	1.16×
40	Missouri	$49,940	90.8	3,000	1.24×
41	Texas	$49,460	97.1	10,520	0.91×
42	Georgia	$48,930	96.3	3,310	0.82×
43	New Mexico	$48,190	92.2	2,110	2.93×
44	West Virginia	$47,560	89.5	1,100	1.90×
45	Kansas	$46,780	90.1	1,560	1.31×
46	Mississippi	$46,480	87.0	1,150	1.20×
47	Louisiana	$46,210	88.2	2,450	1.53×
48	Oklahoma	$45,890	87.8	2,280	1.62×
49	Kentucky	$45,430	90.2	2,540	1.54×
50	Arkansas	$44,320	86.9	2,010	1.87×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$125,160	115.6	1,040	0.53×
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$108,190	110.4	460	0.49×
3	Vallejo, CA	$106,150	108.5	200	1.67×
4	Napa, CA	$101,540	112.6	100	1.61×
5	Fairbanks-College, AK	$99,840	103.2	40	1.25×
6	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$99,010	111.1	830	0.48×
7	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$94,060	109.9	80	1.01×
8	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$88,270	103.7	70	0.66×
9	Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	$87,840	103.9	40	0.87×
10	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$87,310	102.4	90	1.97×
11	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$85,960	108.8	250	1.50×
12	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$85,950	106.7	1,010	1.13×
13	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$84,450	100.2	300	0.32×
14	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$83,860	105.4	450	0.45×
15	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$83,320	112.6	3,690	0.47×
16	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$83,190	108.6	200	1.96×
17	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$82,780	106.4	1,580	1.11×
18	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$82,460	113.6	2,230	0.43×
19	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$82,200	107.8	190	1.10×
20	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$81,810	106.9	170	0.51×
21	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$81,600	105.1	280	1.17×
22	Bellingham, WA	$81,430	103.3	80	1.08×
23	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$81,240	100.3	130	0.60×
24	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$81,100	102.7	330	0.67×
25	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$80,750	100.1	80	0.76×
26	Anchorage, AK	$80,740	105.4	150	1.05×
27	Chico, CA	$80,360	101.2	100	1.62×
28	New Haven, CT	$80,130	104.6	130	0.56×
29	Vineland, NJ	$80,040	96.0	60	1.10×
30	Reno, NV	$79,770	101.0	160	0.70×
31	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$79,630	111.9	880	0.69×
32	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$79,290	103.6	1,770	0.47×
33	Bloomington, IL	$79,220	93.5	60	0.85×
34	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$79,100	105.6	90	1.18×
35	Modesto, CA	$78,710	104.1	210	1.28×
36	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$78,610	100.4	130	1.26×
37	Yuba City, CA	$78,520	104.2	100	2.35×
38	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$78,350	110.5	320	1.20×
39	Rochester, MN	$78,270	90.8	80	0.82×
40	Salinas, CA	$77,920	109.0	190	1.22×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers$96,710
Power Plant Operators$102,040
Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators$78,620
Gas Plant Operators$87,820
Chemical Plant and System Operators$78,120
Plant and System Operators, All Other$62,470
Power Distributors and Dispatchers$106,730
Nuclear Power Reactor Operators$122,890

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators earn the most

Best paying metro areas for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

Similar occupations

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