Forklift Operator Salary by State

The median forklift operator in the United States makes $46,420 a year, or $22.32 per hour. Every number on this page comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for May 2025, which files forklift operators under the occupation name "industrial truck and tractor operators."

BLS, May 2025

Median forklift operator pay by state

AlabamaALArkansasARArizonaAZCaliforniaCAColoradoCOConnecticutCTDelawareDEFloridaFLGeorgiaGAIowaIAIdahoIDIllinoisILIndianaINKansasKSKentuckyKYLouisianaLAMassachusettsMAMarylandMDMaineMEMichiganMIMinnesotaMNMissouriMOMississippiMSMontanaMTNorth CarolinaNCNorth DakotaNDNebraskaNENew HampshireNHNew JerseyNJNew MexicoNMNevadaNVNew YorkNYOhioOHOklahomaOKOregonORPennsylvaniaPARhode IslandRISouth CarolinaSCSouth DakotaSDTennesseeTNTexasTXUtahUTVirginiaVAVermontVTWashingtonWAWisconsinWIWest VirginiaWVWyomingWYAlaskaAKHawaiiHI
$41,670 to $45,010
$45,190 to $46,630
$46,730 to $47,720
$47,730 to $49,260
$49,740 to $62,150

Median pay

United States

$46,420a year

$22.32 an hour

Operators employed

774,420

10th to 90th percentile

$36,840 to $62,520

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025, occupation 53-7051.

All 50 states and D.C.

District of Columbia1$40.25$83,720
New Mexico$29.88$62,150
Delaware$29.02$60,350
Wyoming$28.76$59,820
New Hampshire$26.19$54,460
Alaska$26.05$54,190
Hawaii$25.79$53,640
Oregon$24.40$50,760
Colorado$24.31$50,570
Washington$24.00$49,910
Minnesota$23.91$49,740
North Dakota$23.68$49,260
Utah$23.58$49,040
New York$23.57$49,030
Louisiana$23.54$48,950
Florida$23.25$48,370
Arizona$23.13$48,110
Montana$23.10$48,060
California$22.97$47,770
Maine$22.95$47,730
Pennsylvania$22.95$47,730
Illinois$22.94$47,720
Wisconsin$22.94$47,720
Iowa$22.88$47,590
Kansas$22.80$47,430
South Dakota$22.79$47,410
Vermont$22.78$47,380
Connecticut$22.69$47,190
Virginia$22.56$46,920
Massachusetts$22.52$46,850
Nebraska$22.46$46,730
Kentucky$22.42$46,630
Idaho$22.40$46,600
Ohio$22.33$46,450
New Jersey$22.16$46,100
Indiana$21.95$45,650
Maryland$21.94$45,630
Texas$21.85$45,450
Nevada$21.75$45,230
Michigan$21.74$45,220
Missouri$21.73$45,190
Rhode Island$21.64$45,010
Alabama$21.58$44,880
Oklahoma$21.49$44,700
Arkansas$21.05$43,780
South Carolina$21.00$43,680
Mississippi$20.88$43,420
North Carolina$20.88$43,420
Georgia$20.78$43,210
Tennessee$20.24$42,100
West Virginia$20.03$41,670

1 District of Columbia is included in the table but left out of the state rankings. Its sample is small, and BLS reports the same figure for its median and 90th percentile.

2 Seven states have no metro area with at least 500 forklift operators in the BLS metro file, so no top-paying metro is shown for them.

What forklift operators earn nationally

BLS counted 774,420 industrial truck and tractor operators working in the United States in May 2025. Half of them made more than $46,420 a year and half made less. The average, which a small number of high earners pulls upward, was $48,370, or $23.25 per hour.

The spread matters more than the midpoint. The bottom 10 percent of operators made $36,840 a year or less, which works out to $17.71 per hour. The top 10 percent made more than $62,520, or $30.06 per hour. That is a gap of $25,680 a year, $12.35 per hour, between the two ends of the same job title. A quarter of operators made less than $40,030 and a quarter made more than $54,770.

So a realistic way to read the national numbers: most forklift operators land somewhere between $40,030 and $54,770, a new hire in a low-paying state and industry should expect the bottom end, and the jobs that pay past $62,520 exist but you have to go find them.

Our reading of the data, not a BLS figure.

Highest and lowest paying states for forklift operators

Median annual pay varies by $20,480 between the best-paying state and the worst, which is more than the total gap most people expect inside a single job title.

Highest paying

State Median annual
New Mexico $62,150
Delaware $60,350
Wyoming $59,820
New Hampshire $54,460
Alaska $54,190

Lowest paying

State Median annual
West Virginia $41,670
Tennessee $42,100
Georgia $43,210
Mississippi $43,420
North Carolina $43,420

Mississippi and North Carolina report the same median, $43,420.

Why the spread exists: the five highest-paying states employ about 10,500 forklift operators between them, while the bottom five include Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, three of the biggest warehousing states in the country. In a state with only a few hundred or a few thousand operators, a handful of employers, a refinery, a port, a unionized plant, set the median for the whole state. In a state with 50,260 operators, the median is set by general warehouse work, and general warehouse work pays close to the national middle everywhere. Cost of living, union density, port and rail activity, and which industries dominate the local economy all feed into this, but the size of the sample is doing a lot of the work at the top of the list. This paragraph is our reading of the data, not a BLS conclusion.

Where the forklift jobs are

Five states account for about 40 percent of all forklift operator jobs in the country. California employs the most, 89,620 operators at a median of $47,770, followed by Texas with 88,780 at $45,450, Georgia with 50,260 at $43,210, Ohio with 42,360 at $46,450, and Pennsylvania with 42,110 at $47,730. Three of those five pay above the national median of $46,420, and Georgia, the third-largest employer, sits in the bottom five for pay. Volume of jobs and level of pay are separate questions.

Our reading of the data, not a BLS figure.

Pay by industry

The industry you work in moves your pay more than almost anything else on this page. Warehousing and storage alone employs 286,750 forklift operators, about 37 percent of the national total, and pays a median of $48,170.

The 10 industries that employ the most forklift operators

Industry Operators employed Median annual Median hourly
Warehousing and Storage 286,750 $48,170 $23.16
Employment Services 65,460 $38,100 $18.32
Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods 34,720 $45,890 $22.06
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods 29,430 $46,950 $22.57
Scheduled Air Transportation 23,920 $46,970 $22.58
General Merchandise Retailers 21,040 $61,060 $29.36
Truck Transportation 20,850 $49,480 $23.79
Animal Slaughtering and Processing 14,030 $42,030 $20.21
Converted Paper Product Manufacturing 12,120 $47,720 $22.94
Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing 10,570 $44,430 $21.36

The highest-paying industries with at least 1,000 operators

Industry Median annual Median hourly Operators employed
Motor Vehicle Manufacturing $76,510 $36.79 2,700
Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing $59,170 $28.45 1,650
Nonresidential Building Construction $58,860 $28.30 1,480
Support Activities for Water Transportation $57,850 $27.81 4,580
Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Mills $55,140 $26.51 2,090

General Merchandise Retailers appears in the employment table above rather than this one, but it belongs in both conversations: at $61,060 it pays $14,640 more than the national median and employs 21,040 operators, which is far more than any industry in the high-pay table.

What this means if you are job hunting: the two industries at the extremes tell the story. Employment Services, meaning staffing and temp agencies, employs 65,460 operators at a median of $38,100, which is $8,320 below the national median. Motor Vehicle Manufacturing pays $76,510, or $30,090 above it, but has room for only 2,700. A temp agency is the fastest way into the job and the slowest way up. The pay is in manufacturing plants, ports, and the large retail distribution operations, and those employers hire people who already have training in hand.

Our reading of the data, not a BLS figure.

What moves forklift operator pay

Certification

OSHA requires employers to train and evaluate every forklift operator before that person operates a forklift, under 29 CFR 1910.178(l). The obligation sits with the employer, not with you, but employers routinely prefer hires who arrive already trained, because it removes a cost and a delay before you can be put to work. BLS does not publish wages split by whether an operator is certified, so no honest page can put a dollar figure on it. What training changes is which jobs you are eligible for on day one. If cost is the hurdle, start with the free forklift certification routes.

Our reading of the data, not a BLS figure.

Truck class and equipment

A counterbalance sit-down forklift is the truck most people learn on and the one most warehouses run. Reach trucks, order pickers, and heavy-capacity trucks take longer to get good at, and the operators who can run several classes are the ones a supervisor can put anywhere. BLS does not break wages out by truck class, so treat this as a hiring reality rather than a measured pay premium: being evaluated on more than one class of truck makes you useful in more of the building. See what reach truck and stand-up training involves.

Our reading of the data, not a BLS figure.

Shift differential

Distribution centers run nights and weekends, and second and third shift roles are usually the hardest for an employer to fill. Employers commonly add a differential to those shifts. BLS wage data does not separate shift premiums, so we are not going to attach a number to it, but night shift is one of the few pay levers a new operator can pull straight away.

Our reading of the data, not a BLS figure.

Union vs non-union

Unionized plants, ports, and grocery distribution centers tend to run on a posted wage scale with scheduled steps, while non-union warehouse pay is set employer by employer. BLS does not publish union status inside this occupation. The pattern we would point to instead is in the state and industry numbers on this page: the small states and the heavy-industry categories that pay the most are also the ones where organized labor and long-tenured plants are concentrated.

Our reading of the data, not a BLS figure.

Industry

This is the measured one. Moving from a staffing agency at a median of $38,100 to a truck transportation employer at $49,480, or to a general merchandise distribution center at $61,060, is a larger change than most operators will get from years of seniority in one place. Same skill, same truck, different employer.

How to get certified in your state

Click your state in the table above and you will get the rules that apply where you work, what local employers expect, and where the jobs are concentrated. If you want the training itself, our online forklift certification course is $59, takes under an hour, and covers the classroom training OSHA requires. Your employer completes the hands-on evaluation on the truck you will use. The course is OSHA compliant, you can finish it tonight, and you can walk into an interview with the certificate already in hand.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a forklift operator make?
The median forklift operator in the United States makes $46,420 a year, or $22.32 per hour, according to BLS data for May 2025. Half of the 774,420 operators in the country earn more than that and half earn less. The average is slightly higher, $48,370, because a small group of high earners pulls it up.
What is the hourly rate for a forklift operator?
The national median is $22.32 per hour. The bottom 10 percent of operators make $17.71 per hour or less, and the top 10 percent make more than $30.06 per hour. Half of all operators fall between $19.24 and $26.33 per hour.
Which state pays forklift operators the most?
New Mexico, at a median of $62,150 a year, followed by Delaware at $60,350 and Wyoming at $59,820. All three are small states with a few thousand operators or fewer, so a handful of employers can set the state median. Among the states with large numbers of forklift jobs, California pays best at $47,770 across 89,620 operators.
Do certified forklift operators earn more?
BLS does not publish forklift operator wages split by certification, so nobody can honestly quote you a percentage. What training does is change which jobs you can take. OSHA requires employers to train and evaluate operators before they run a forklift, under 29 CFR 1910.178(l), and the employers at the top of the pay table, manufacturing plants, ports, and large distribution centers, generally hire people who already have that behind them. Arriving trained moves you from the $38,100 staffing agency end of the market toward the rest of it.
Is forklift operator a good job?
It is one of the larger blue-collar occupations in the country, with 774,420 people doing it, and it takes hours of training rather than years of schooling. Pay is solid but the ceiling is real: the top 10 percent make more than $62,520, and the way to get there is the industry you work in, not time served. If you want a job you can start quickly with a clear path into warehousing, manufacturing, or port work, it holds up. Our guide on how to become a forklift operator covers the steps.

Last updated:

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation "industrial truck and tractor operators" (SOC 53-7051), released 2026-05-15. Refreshed each year when BLS publishes the May data.

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The employers paying at the top of this table hire operators who already have their training done, and ours takes under an hour online for $59.

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