How To Become A Combine Driver: What It Is and Career Path

What is a combine driver and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average combine driver salary is $49,913. The most common degree is a high school diploma degree with an business major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become a combine driver. Combine drivers with a Commercial Driver License (CDL) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 90,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCombine DriverUS Average

Salary

3.9

Avg. Salary $49,913

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.75%

Asian 3.22%

Black or African American 11.25%

Hispanic or Latino 22.93%

Unknown 4.45%

White 57.40%

Gender

female 11.61%

male 88.39%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.6

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

1.4

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a combine driver

Explore combine driver education requirements

Most common combine driver degrees

High School Diploma

36.5 %

Bachelor's

28.8 %

Diploma

19.2 %

Start to develop specific combine driver skills

Skills	Percentages
CDL	40.62%
Post-Trip Inspections	24.92%
LTL	12.84%
Unload Freight	8.76%
Customer Locations	6.24%

Complete relevant combine driver training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New combine drivers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a combine driver based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real combine driver resumes.

Research combine driver duties and responsibilities

Maintain all harvest equipment in perfect running condition during harvest season.
Drive a pea combine at least 6 hours every day, clean up pea piles left behind.
Operate a pea combine within a team of five that include a mechanic, a tractor and three other combine operators.
Conduct deliveries of medical equipment throughout Florida, collect payments, and ensure proper cleanliness of medical equipment

Prepare your combine driver resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your combine driver resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a combine driver resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable combine driver resume templates

Build a professional combine driver resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your combine driver resume.