Florida·Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations·SOC 45-4022

Best Logging Equipment Operator programs in Florida, ranked by enrollment

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;.

4 schools in Florida run programs that feed this job, graduating 19 people a year. The job pays a median of $49,370 in Florida across about 770 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledSkidder DriverLoader OperatorSkidder OperatorLogging Equipment OperatorLoaderStackerDelimberUnloader
Graduates / yr
19
in Florida
Median pay · Florida
$49,370
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
770
people employed
Schools
4
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
48%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Florida that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

1 programs in Florida that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Florida (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Florida page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 49.0202In Florida
19
100.0%
4$42,812$7,572

Top 4 schools in Florida

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 4 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Atlantic Technical College
Coconut Creek, FL Public · 1 feeder programs
11Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment Operation65%
2Flagler Technical College
Palm Coast, FL Public · 1 feeder programs
3Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment Operation81%
3Florida Panhandle Technical College
Chipley, FL Public · 1 feeder programs
3Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment Operation41%
4Miami Lakes Educational Center and Technical College
Miami Lakes, FL Public · 1 feeder programs
2Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment Operation5%

All 4 schools in Florida

Every school in Florida with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Florida that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Atlantic Technical CollegeCoconut CreekPublic111
Flagler Technical CollegePalm CoastPublic31
Florida Panhandle Technical CollegeChipleyPublic31
Miami Lakes Educational Center and Technical CollegeMiami LakesPublic21

What logging equipment operators earn in Florida

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Florida
$49,370
Mean annual
$49,960
Jobs in state
770
What the range looks like
10th pct$37,440Median$49,37090th pct$62,760
Versus the national median
-0.7%

U.S. median $49,740. Florida pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.57×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Florida

Jacksonville, FL
$50,450median
100 jobs
Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL
$47,990median
60 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-1.4%
Decline
Openings per year
4,200
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-400
30,900 → 30,500
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Logging Equipment Operators page.

How to become a Logging Equipment Operator

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Top skills

MonitoringActive ListeningCritical ThinkingWritingSpeakingReading Comprehension

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Florida

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 1 majors mapped to Logging Equipment Operators1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 49.0202Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment Operation

Common questions

Answers for people weighing logging equipment operators programs in Florida.

What degree do you need to become a Logging Equipment Operator?+

High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment Operation, which awarded 19 degrees in Florida in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Logging Equipment Operator?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Ground Transportation. Together they graduate about 19 people a year in Florida.

How much do logging equipment operators earn in Florida?+

The median is $49,370 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 0.7% below the U.S. median of $49,740. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for logging equipment operators growing?+

BLS projects a -1.4% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 4,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Florida?+

4 institutions in Florida reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do logging equipment operators work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Skidder Driver, Loader Operator, Skidder Operator, Logging Equipment Operator among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 45-4022.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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