Pile Driver Operators vs Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators: $73K vs $70K Median Pay

Pile Driver Operators vs Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators: what changes?

Consider Pile Driver Operators if you want to operate pile drivers mounted on skids, barges, crawler treads, or locomotive cranes to drive pilings for retaining walls, bulkheads, and foundations of structures such as buildings, bridges, and piers. 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 Pile Driver Operators 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

Pile Driver Operators

National median pay (2025): $73,300
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: Move hand and foot levers of hoisting equipment to position piling leads, hoist piling into leads, and position hammers over pilings.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 200

Know before you choose

BLS projects employment to shrink 5.7% from 2025 to 2035. Openings can still occur when existing workers leave.

See the full Pile Driver Operators 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

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators has the edge on projected growth

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators is at 1.5% projected growth, compared with -5.7% projected growth for Pile Driver Operators.

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators has the edge on annual openings

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators is at 1,200 annual openings, compared with 200 annual openings for Pile Driver Operators.

Pile Driver Operators has the edge on median pay

Pile Driver Operators is at $73,300, compared with $70,070 for Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators.

34.4/ 100

Pile Driver Operators

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

Pile Driver Operators vs Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators

Dimension	Pile Driver Operators	Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
Median pay (2025)	$73,300	$70,070
Pay percentile	63.1 percentile	61.2 percentile
Projected growth (2025–2035)	-5.7%	1.5%
Annual openings (2025–2035)	200	1,200
2025 employment	2,300	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 Pile Driver Operators brief Read Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators brief

Pile Driver Operators vs Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators: what changes?

The facts most likely to affect your decision

Pile Driver Operators

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators

How the national numbers differ

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators has the edge on projected growth

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators has the edge on annual openings

Pile Driver Operators has the edge on median pay

Pile Driver Operators vs Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators

Try another comparison

Pile Driver Operators vs Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators vs Hazardous Materials Removal Workers