Best Rail-Track Laying programs in Wisconsin, ranked by enrollment
Lay, repair, and maintain track for standard or narrow-gauge railroad equipment used in regular railroad service or in plant yards, quarries, sand and gravel pits, and mines.
3 schools in Wisconsin run programs that feed this job, graduating 77 people a year. The job pays a median of $47,920 in Wisconsin across about 180 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Wisconsin that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
1 programs in Wisconsin that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Wisconsin (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 Wisconsin page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 49.0202In Wisconsin → | 77 | 100.0% | 3 | $42,812 | $7,572 |
Top 3 schools in Wisconsin
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 3 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fox Valley Technical College Appleton, WI Public · 1 feeder programs | 58 | Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment Operation | $67,999 | 65% | — | — |
| 2 | Nicolet Area Technical College Rhinelander, WI Public · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment Operation | — | 44% | — | — |
| 3 | Northwood Technical College Rice Lake, WI Public · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment Operation | — | 56% | — | — |
All 3 schools in Wisconsin
Every school in Wisconsin 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.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox Valley Technical College | Appleton | Public | 58 | 1 |
| Nicolet Area Technical College | Rhinelander | Public | 13 | 1 |
| Northwood Technical College | Rice Lake | Public | 6 | 1 |
What rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators earn in Wisconsin
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $70,070. Wisconsin pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
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 Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators page.
How to become a Rail-Track Laying
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
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Wisconsin
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance 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 rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators programs in Wisconsin.
What degree do you need to become a Rail-Track Laying?+
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 77 degrees in Wisconsin in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Rail-Track Laying?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Ground Transportation. Together they graduate about 77 people a year in Wisconsin.
How much do rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators earn in Wisconsin?+
The median is $47,920 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 31.6% below the U.S. median of $70,070. 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 rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators growing?+
BLS projects a +1.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 1,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Wisconsin?+
3 institutions in Wisconsin 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 rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Track Laborer, Track Repairer, Track Inspector, Track Maintainer among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 47-4061.
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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