Best degree programs for Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators, ranked by enrollment
1 college programs and 3 schools train Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $46,420 median wage, 774,420 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
1 college programs at 3 schools train industrial truck and tractor operators, graduating 318 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Forklift Operation/Operator. The job pays a median of $46,420 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About industrial truck and tractor operators
Operate industrial trucks or tractors equipped to move materials around a warehouse, storage yard, factory, construction site, or similar location.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
1 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 49.0209 | 318 | 100.0% | 3 | $42,812 | $7,572 |
Top 3 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | City Colleges of Chicago - Olive - Harvey College Chicago, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 204 | Forklift Operation/Operator | 21% | — | — |
| 2 | Colby Community College Colby, KS Public · 1 feeder programs | 110 | Forklift Operation/Operator | 55% | — | — |
| 3 | Polytech Adult Education Woodside, DE Public · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Forklift Operation/Operator | 70% | — | — |
What industrial truck and tractor operators earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Move levers or controls that operate lifting devices, such as forklifts, lift beams with swivel-hooks, hoists, or elevating platforms, to load, unload, transport, or stack material.
- Move controls to drive gasoline- or electric-powered trucks, cars, or tractors and transport materials between loading, processing, and storage areas.
- Manually or mechanically load or unload materials from pallets, skids, platforms, cars, lifting devices, or other transport vehicles.
- Position lifting devices under, over, or around loaded pallets, skids, or boxes and secure material or products for transport to designated areas.
- Inspect product load for accuracy and safely move it around the warehouse or facility to ensure timely and complete delivery.
- Weigh materials or products and record weight or other production data on tags or labels.
- Perform routine maintenance on vehicles or auxiliary equipment, such as cleaning, lubricating, recharging batteries, fueling, or replacing liquefied-gas tank.
- Operate or tend automatic stacking, loading, packaging, or cutting machines.
Skills
- Active Listening2.9
- Reading Comprehension2.9
- Monitoring2.8
- Critical Thinking2.8
- Speaking2.8
- Writing2.5
- Mathematics2.1
- Learning Strategies2.1
Knowledge areas
- Mathematics3.0
- English Language2.8
- Production and Processing2.8
- Transportation2.8
- Customer and Personal Service2.5
- Administration and Management2.5
Abilities
- Control Precision4.0
- Multilimb Coordination3.9
- Far Vision3.8
- Response Orientation3.6
- Manual Dexterity3.5
- Rate Control3.4
Core activities
- Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment4.5
- Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials4.4
- Handling and Moving Objects4.4
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events4.2
- Performing General Physical Activities4.1
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems4.0
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Industrial Truck
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- On-the-job training
- Short-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.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 49.0209Forklift Operation/Operator
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become an Industrial Truck?+
No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Forklift Operation/Operator, which awarded 318 degrees in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Industrial Truck?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Ground Transportation. Together they graduate about 318 people a year.
How much do industrial truck and tractor operators earn?+
The median is $46,420 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $36,840 at the 10th percentile to $62,520 at the 90th. 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 industrial truck and tractor operators growing?+
BLS projects a +1.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 76,400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
3 institutions 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 industrial truck and tractor operators work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Spotter Driver, Forklift Driver, Fork Truck Driver, Forklift Operator among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 53-7051.
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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, 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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