Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers Salary and Pay
How much do Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers make?
Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers pay a median of $58,030 a year in the BLS May 2024 survey, with a mean of $60,810 across 3,300 counted jobs. Half of all workers in the occupation earn between $51,770 and $65,530.
The complete pay picture for Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers: 3,300 jobs nationally, a median of $58,030, and the state and metro tables that show where that median is beaten and where it is not.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Hourly figures use the BLS full-time convention of 2,080 hours a year. The converter loads this occupation's own ladder, median $58,030 first; type any offer into the custom box to price it against the same year.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $44,510 | $21.40 |
| 25th percentile | $51,770 | $24.89 |
| Median (50th) | $58,030 | $27.90 |
| 75th percentile | $65,530 | $31.50 |
| 90th percentile | $79,070 | $38.02 |
Percentiles answer the question a single average cannot: where would a given Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers offer sit among all 3,300 workers doing this job? The survey top-codes at $239,200+ and withholds unreliable cells, shown as n/p in the table.
Employment and concentration
With 3,300 jobs nationally, Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers make up 0.00% of U.S. employment as BLS measured it in May 2024. The map is uneven: Indiana alone holds 300 of those jobs, the top three states hold 23.9%, and the deepest concentration sits in North Dakota (location quotient 5.28, where 1.00 is the national average). A quotient above 2 usually signals a local industry cluster rather than evenly spread demand.
Read the ladder as a career path in numbers: $51,770 at the 25th percentile, $58,030 at the middle, $65,530 at the 75th. The full 10-to-90 range runs $34,560, a ratio of 1.8 to 1. Where a specific job offer lands on that range says more about the role's level than the occupation's headline median does.
Pay by state
Sorted by employment, the table below puts Indiana first at 300 jobs; sorted by median pay instead, New York would lead at $73,840. Both orderings are printed in one table:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana | 300 | 0.1 | 4.38 | $51,650 | $47,960 |
| California | 280 | 0.0 | 0.73 | $62,490 | $65,500 |
| New Jersey | 210 | 0.1 | 2.35 | $65,710 | $59,450 |
| Georgia | 170 | 0.0 | 1.65 | $52,640 | $48,700 |
| Kentucky | 120 | 0.1 | 2.75 | $52,260 | $50,090 |
| Texas | 80 | 0.0 | 0.26 | $59,530 | $53,250 |
| West Virginia | 70 | 0.1 | 4.34 | $74,450 | $70,480 |
| Kansas | 60 | 0.0 | 1.94 | $49,970 | $52,710 |
| Pennsylvania | 60 | 0.0 | 0.46 | $58,290 | $64,130 |
| Alabama | 50 | 0.0 | 1.07 | $57,190 | $57,050 |
| North Dakota | 50 | 0.1 | 5.28 | $70,080 | $73,620 |
| Arkansas | 30 | 0.0 | 1.13 | $52,800 | $47,780 |
| Florida | 30 | 0.0 | 0.15 | $58,210 | $58,220 |
| New York | n/p | n/p | n/p | $81,100 | $73,840 |
| Ohio | n/p | n/p | n/p | $56,370 | $58,000 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers stands number 781 by employment and number 441 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 11% more 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 $58,030, 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 130 jobs, 3.9% of the national total. Below, the biggest employers come first; the pay table after it only counts metros with 500 or more jobs in the occupation, so its leader is a real market and not a statistical artifact.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 130 | $54,470 | $52,590 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 80 | $45,350 | $38,580 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | 50 | $59,640 | $65,120 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
Budget arithmetic on the median: $4,836 a month before tax, $2,232 biweekly, $1,116 weekly. Moving from the 25th percentile ($51,770) to the 75th ($65,530) is worth $13,760 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. To turn any of these gross figures into spendable money, run them through the paycheck calculator; to weigh an offer against your current role, use the salary calculator; to test a raise against prices, the raise vs inflation calculator.
To place a real offer: a salary of $63,833 would sit between the median ($58,030) and the 75th percentile ($65,530), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $51,770, is $6,260 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
The occupations BLS groups with this one, by size: Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders, Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors, Subway and Streetcar Operators, Ship Engineers, Traffic Technicians, Gas Compressor and Gas Pumping Station Operators. Every one of the 826 published occupations is indexed on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average salary for Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers?
BLS publishes both centers: the mean annual wage is $60,810 and the median is $58,030 (May 2024). The median is usually the better answer to what a typical worker makes, because the mean is pulled by the highest earners.
Where do Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers earn the most?
At state level, New York posts the highest median at $73,840. At metro level, BLS publishes no metro estimates for this occupation.
How many Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers jobs are there?
3,300 nationally in May 2024. The biggest metro employer is New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ with 130 jobs.
Is $58,030 a good salary for Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers?
It is the exact middle of the occupation: half of the 3,300 counted workers earn more, half earn less. Against the occupation's own ladder, an offer above $65,530 is a top-quartile offer and one below $51,770 is a bottom-quartile one.