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Boston Career Explorer

Construction and Extraction

Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators

Operate equipment used for applying concrete, asphalt, or other materials to road beds, parking lots, or airport runways and taxiways or for tamping gravel, dirt, or other materials. Includes concrete and asphalt paving machine operators, form tampers, tamping machine operators, and stone spreader operators.

Also called: Asphalt Paver Operator, Asphalt Paving Machine Operator, Asphalt Raker, Asphalt Roller Operator, Equipment Operator (EO), Loader Operator

Median pay in Greater Boston
$68,520
$32.94/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
380
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+6.0%
90 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
High school diploma or equivalent
plus Moderate-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$44,550$60,260$68,520$79,760$82,690

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Start machine, engage clutch, and push and move levers to guide machine along forms or guidelines and to control the operation of machine attachments.
  • Fill tanks, hoppers, or machines with paving materials.
  • Control paving machines to push dump trucks and to maintain a constant flow of asphalt or other material into hoppers or screeds.
  • Observe distribution of paving material to adjust machine settings or material flow, and indicate low spots for workers to add material.
  • Coordinate truck dumping.
  • Drive machines onto truck trailers, and drive trucks to transport machines and material to and from job sites.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure7 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 10
  • Language-model AIOE 7
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 3

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

This job has lower AI exposure, and observed AI use is little or none today. AI tools and software may help a little with watching material flow and machine settings. Running the machine, working beside the crew, and coordinating trucks on a live job site still rely on a person's hands, eyes, and judgment.

Likely to change

  • Monitoring material flow and machine settings
  • Coordinating truck dumping and scheduling

Still relies on people

  • Guiding the paving machine by hand
  • Spotting low spots and directing crew

What federal projections say

“Productivity change - share decreases as new equipment and paving materials allow operators to lay more road materials.”
BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, factors affecting this job (U.S.)

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

No college programs near Boston map to this job. Many people enter through on-the-job training or apprenticeship.

Talk to a career coach at the Office of Workforce Development about apprenticeships and City partner programs.

Related occupations

Talk to a career coach

A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.

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