Highway maintenance worker vs highway maintainer

The differences between highway maintenance workers and highway maintainers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a highway maintenance worker and a highway maintainer. Additionally, a highway maintainer has an average salary of $48,568, which is higher than the $40,488 average annual salary of a highway maintenance worker.

The top three skills for a highway maintenance worker include CDL, highway maintenance and asphalt. The most important skills for a highway maintainer are loaders, cdl class, and road surfaces.

Highway maintenance worker vs highway maintainer overview

	Highway Maintenance Worker	Highway Maintainer
Yearly salary	$40,488	$48,568
Hourly rate	$19.47	$23.35
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	72,179	1,613
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 52%	High School Diploma, 42%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	12	12

Highway maintenance worker vs highway maintainer salary

Highway maintenance workers and highway maintainers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Highway Maintenance Worker	Highway Maintainer
Average salary	$40,488	$48,568
Salary range	Between $30,000 And $54,000	Between $29,000 And $81,000
Highest paying City	Olympia, WA	-
Highest paying state	New Jersey	-
Best paying company	Washington State University	-
Best paying industry	Construction	-

Differences between highway maintenance worker and highway maintainer education

There are a few differences between a highway maintenance worker and a highway maintainer in terms of educational background:

	Highway Maintenance Worker	Highway Maintainer
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 52%	High School Diploma, 42%
Most common major	Business	General Studies
Most common college	-	-

Highway maintenance worker vs highway maintainer demographics

Here are the differences between highway maintenance workers' and highway maintainers' demographics:

	Highway Maintenance Worker	Highway Maintainer
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 89.3% Female, 10.7%	Male, 92.1% Female, 7.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 11.7% Asian, 0.5% White, 74.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.6%	Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 0.4% White, 76.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.8%
LGBT Percentage	4%	4%

Differences between highway maintenance worker and highway maintainer duties and responsibilities

Highway maintenance worker example responsibilities.

Operate snow plows, haul trucks, bobcats, front end loaders, and backhoe equipment.
Maintain trucks, pavement making equipment, snowplows, and salt spreaders.
Operate all cdl equipment which include snow plow, highway striper, street sweeper and transporter.
Operate a single and tandem axle dump truck, backhoe, loader, roller, and chain saws.
Haul equipment out to job tandem dump truck with trailer operate backhoe paving roller, bobcat and loader.
Follow behind operating machinery, such as mowers, and weed whack what the mowers are unable to mow.

Highway maintainer example responsibilities.

Cut brush, operate mowing equipment, and litter pick up.
Maintain and repair all trucks, tractors, mowers, etc.
Dump, spread and tamp asphalt, using pneumatic tamper to patch broken or erode pavement.
Operate machines to spread, smooth, level or steel-reinforce stone, concrete, or asphalt on road beds.
Ensure upkeep of state land and highways including; mowing, painting, road maintenance, trash and brush pick up.
Receive and implement combat orders and direct deployment of personnel in offensive, defensive and retrograde operations.

Highway maintenance worker vs highway maintainer skills

Common highway maintenance worker skills

CDL, 9%
Highway Maintenance, 7%
Asphalt, 7%
Hand Tools, 6%
Loaders, 5%
GRASS, 5%

Common highway maintainer skills

Loaders, 18%
CDL Class, 14%
Road Surfaces, 9%
Dump Truck, 9%
Mowing, 8%
Snowplows, 7%

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Highway Maintenance Worker vs Highway Maintainer

Updated January 8, 2025

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