Dredge Operators
Operate dredge to remove sand, gravel, or other materials in order to excavate and maintain navigable channels in waterways.
- Median annual earnings
- $57,567
- Projected change
- +18.5%
- Typical education
- High school diploma or less
- Employment
- 4.46K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
87.2% of the workforce
Growing to 5.28K by 2035
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Build the skills
ASU learning related to this career
These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
The work
What dredge operators do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Move levers to position dredges for excavation, to engage hydraulic pumps, to raise and lower suction booms, and to control rotation of cutterheads.
- Start and stop engines to operate equipment.
- Start power winches that draw in or let out cables to change positions of dredges, or pull in and let out cables manually.
- Pump water to clear machinery pipelines.
- Lower anchor poles to verify depths of excavations, using winches, or scan depth gauges to determine depths of excavations.
- Direct or assist workers placing shore anchors and cables, laying additional pipes from dredges to shore, and pumping water from pontoons.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $19,579
- 25th percentile
- $36,320
- 50th percentile
- $57,567
- 75th percentile
- $107,186
- 90th percentile
- $155,773
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $57,567 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
822 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- High school diploma or less
- 87.2%
- Certificate
- 8.6%
- Some college
- 4.3%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Dredge Operators14 postings
- 02Fire Equipment Operators6 postings
- 03Heavy Equipment Operators2 postings
- 04Excavator Operators1 postings
- 05Plant Equipment Operators1 postings
Top employers
- 01C&M Dredging5 postings
- 02Atlas Energy Solutions2 postings
- 03Encore Dredging Partners2 postings
- 04Riverstone Group2 postings
- 05Amrize1 postings
- 06Bowlin Enterprises1 postings
- 07CRH plc1 postings
- 08Central Sand1 postings
- 09Freedom Recruiting1 postings
- 10Gator Dredging1 postings
- 11Heidelberg Materials1 postings
- 12Industrial Environmental1 postings
- 13Johnson Sand & Gravel1 postings
- 14K2 Construction1 postings
- 15Llc Natural Resources1 postings
- 16Synagro1 postings
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