Motorboat Operators Salary and Pay
How much do Motorboat Operators make?
In May 2024 the middle Motorboat Operators worker earned $51,880 a year, the average was $55,370, and the survey counted 2,380 jobs. The 25th percentile is $39,860 and the 75th is $68,490.
What Motorboat Operators actually pay, from the federal wage survey: a $51,880 median, the full percentile ladder, every state's table, and the metros where the jobs and the money sit, on one page.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Every level in the picker is a published BLS figure for Motorboat Operators, not a national average. Annual-to-hourly conversions divide by 2,080 hours, the survey's full-time year; top-coded levels use $239,200, the floor BLS prints, so the true figure is higher.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $31,970 | $15.37 |
| 25th percentile | $39,860 | $19.16 |
| Median (50th) | $51,880 | $24.94 |
| 75th percentile | $68,490 | $32.93 |
| 90th percentile | $82,330 | $39.58 |
Read the ladder vertically: each row is the wage of the Motorboat Operators worker at that point in the distribution, so $68,490 at the 75th percentile means three quarters of the occupation earns less. Figures BLS cannot publish appear as n/p, and its top code prints as $239,200+.
Employment and concentration
With 2,380 jobs nationally, Motorboat Operators make up 0.00% of U.S. employment as BLS measured it in May 2024. The map is uneven: Florida alone holds 350 of those jobs, the top three states hold 36.6%, and the deepest concentration sits in Hawaii (location quotient 25.14, where 1.00 is the national average). A quotient above 2 usually signals a local industry cluster rather than evenly spread demand.
Pay inside the occupation is wide: $50,360 separates the ends of its ladder. The 90th percentile ($82,330) is 2.6 times the 10th percentile ($31,970), a gap of $50,360 a year. The mean of $55,370 sitting above the median of $51,880 tells you the top end pulls the average up: most workers cluster below the mean, and the high tail is thin.
Pay by state
Every state with a publishable estimate is in this table, 15 of them, sorted by jobs. The pay leader by median is California at $87,900; the jobs leader is Florida:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 350 | 0.0 | 2.29 | $46,340 | $43,890 |
| Texas | 280 | 0.0 | 1.32 | $57,910 | $60,000 |
| Hawaii | 240 | 0.4 | 25.14 | $70,740 | $64,670 |
| Louisiana | 220 | 0.1 | 7.52 | $44,040 | $44,880 |
| Tennessee | 130 | 0.0 | 2.64 | $43,220 | $44,280 |
| New Jersey | 120 | 0.0 | 1.80 | $52,970 | $44,640 |
| New York | 120 | 0.0 | 0.81 | $63,770 | $61,170 |
| Washington | 100 | 0.0 | 1.86 | $61,920 | $62,110 |
| California | 90 | 0.0 | 0.33 | $84,130 | $87,900 |
| Massachusetts | 80 | 0.0 | 1.49 | $55,270 | $45,990 |
| Georgia | 70 | 0.0 | 0.99 | $42,100 | $36,410 |
| Maryland | 40 | 0.0 | 0.86 | $56,790 | $40,390 |
| North Carolina | 40 | 0.0 | 0.53 | $69,960 | $81,220 |
| Illinois | 30 | 0.0 | 0.37 | $67,040 | $67,170 |
| Kentucky | n/p | n/p | n/p | $39,390 | $36,140 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Motorboat Operators stands number 799 by employment and number 496 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Transportation and Material Moving Occupations, the group median wage is $52,310 across 50 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 1% less than its group median, and it supplies 0.0% of the group's 13,645,590 jobs. In 7 of the 15 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $51,880, which is the single best quick test of whether this occupation's pay is set nationally or locally: a high count means local markets regularly outbid the national figure.
Metropolitan areas: where the jobs and the pay sit
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ is the largest metro employer with 190 jobs, 8.0% of the national total. Employment rank and pay rank are different lists: the second table re-sorts metros with at least 500 jobs in this occupation by mean pay, the floor keeping a handful of workers from posing as a market.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 190 | $59,290 | $59,050 |
| San Juan-Bayamon-Caguas, PR | 120 | $37,100 | $26,470 |
| New Orleans-Metairie, LA | 80 | $42,480 | $48,350 |
| Urban Honolulu, HI | 80 | $66,460 | $62,340 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 60 | $55,840 | $54,080 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 50 | $50,280 | $46,000 |
| Kahului-Wailuku, HI | 50 | $80,810 | $75,820 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 50 | $42,630 | $37,510 |
| Baton Rouge, LA | 40 | $49,020 | $45,450 |
| Corpus Christi, TX | 40 | $59,210 | $59,990 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
The median annual wage of $51,880 works out to $4,323 a month before taxes, $1,995 per biweekly paycheck, and $998 a week. Moving from the 25th percentile ($39,860) to the 75th ($68,490) is worth $28,630 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. Run the median through the paycheck calculator for a take-home estimate in your state, compare an offer against your current pay with the salary calculator, and check whether a raise actually beats prices with the raise vs inflation calculator.
To place a real offer: a salary of $57,068 would sit between the median ($51,880) and the 75th percentile ($68,490), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $39,860, is $12,020 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Transportation and Material Moving Occupations
Sibling occupations in Transportation and Material Moving Occupations: Transportation Inspectors, Air Traffic Controllers, Taxi Drivers, Wellhead Pumpers, Airfield Operations Specialists, Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers. Medians there are computed identically, so the comparison is apples to apples; the full set lives on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Motorboat Operators make an hour?
The median hourly wage is $24.94, and the mean hourly wage is $26.62, from the May 2024 OEWS estimates. Annual figures for Motorboat Operators use the survey's 2,080-hour year where a conversion is needed, which is how the $51,880 annual median and the hourly figures reconcile.
Which state pays Motorboat Operators the most?
California, with a median annual wage of $87,900 across 90 jobs. The full state table on this page ranks every publishing state by employment and shows median and mean side by side.
How big is the Motorboat Operators workforce?
2,380 wage and salary workers in May 2024, 0.00% of U.S. employment in the survey. Employment concentrates most in Hawaii by location quotient (25.14).
How current is this Motorboat Operators salary data?
These are the May 2024 OEWS estimates behind the $51,880 median and the 2,380 job count on this page, released by BLS on April 2, 2025 and downloaded on November 5, 2026. OEWS is an employer survey, so those figures describe wages actually paid in this occupation, not advertised ranges.