Highway Maintenance Workers vs Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators: $50K vs $70K Median Pay

Highway Maintenance Workers vs Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators: what changes?

Consider Highway Maintenance Workers if you want to maintain highways, municipal and rural roads, airport runways, and rights-of-way. Consider Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators if you would rather 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. Both list high school diploma or equivalent; compare training and prior experience separately.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for Highway Maintenance Workers and Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators. List the duties, credentials, prior experience, and paid training each employer actually asks for. Try a supervised class or sample project from each field before choosing a program.

BLS 2025 wages and 2025–2035 projections. National medians are not starting offers. Occupation size is not a count of vacancies. View the BLS data.

Compare the practical differences

Highway Maintenance Workers

National median pay (2025): $50,260
Route into the job: High school diploma or equivalent; More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Set out signs and cones around work areas to divert traffic.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 11,800

Know before you choose

The work can involve real occupational hazards. Training, protective equipment, and routine safety discipline matter every day.

See the full Highway Maintenance Workers brief

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators

National median pay (2025): $70,070
Route into the job: High school diploma or equivalent; More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Patrol assigned track sections so that damaged or broken track can be located and reported.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 1,200

Know before you choose

This is a small national occupation (17,400 jobs in 2025), so location and employer concentration can matter more than the national median suggests.

See the full Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators brief

How the national numbers differ

Highway Maintenance Workers has the edge on annual openings

Highway Maintenance Workers is at 11,800 annual openings, compared with 1,200 annual openings for Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators.

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators has the edge on median pay

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators is at $70,070, compared with $50,260 for Highway Maintenance Workers.

Highway Maintenance Workers has the edge on projected growth

Highway Maintenance Workers is at 3.4% projected growth, compared with 1.5% projected growth for Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators.

56/ 100

Highway Maintenance Workers

46.4/ 100

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators

Each available metric is ranked from 0 to 100 against the careers on ChooseField. The weighted average uses this profile: pay 30%, growth 25%, openings 30%, preparation level 15%. Missing values are not scored as zero; their weights are redistributed across available metrics. Occupation size has zero weight: employment is not accessible vacancies. Preparation categories do not measure admission difficulty or years without earnings. The score summarizes national measures; local opportunities and personal fit still need separate consideration.

Detailed evidence

Highway Maintenance Workers vs Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators

Dimension	Highway Maintenance Workers	Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
Median pay (2025)	$50,260	$70,070
Pay percentile	33 percentile	61.2 percentile
Projected growth (2025–2035)	3.4%	1.5%
Annual openings (2025–2035)	11,800	1,200
2025 employment	161,800	17,400
How you qualify	High school diploma or equivalent; More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing	High school diploma or equivalent; More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
O*NET preparation group	Job Zone 2	Job Zone 2
Related work experience	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
On-the-job training	More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.	More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.

The table reports national benchmarks and reviewed work descriptions. It does not rate personal suitability, job security, or physical safety.

Read Highway Maintenance Workers brief Read Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators brief

Highway Maintenance Workers vs Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators: what changes?

The facts most likely to affect your decision

Highway Maintenance Workers

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators

How the national numbers differ

Highway Maintenance Workers has the edge on annual openings

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators has the edge on median pay

Highway Maintenance Workers has the edge on projected growth

Highway Maintenance Workers vs Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators

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