How much do rigging supervisors make in 2026?
Rigging supervisors are counted in the BLS first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers series: OEWS May 2025 gives the SOC 47-1011 national median as $79,920 a year ($38.42 an hour), with the bottom 10% near $53,280 and the top 10% at $128,260. That series pools supervisors from every trade, so read it as the market rate for front-line construction supervision rather than as a rigging-specific figure. Within it, rigging supervision sits at or above the midpoint for one reason: the role carries technical liability that most trade supervision does not. A rigging supervisor or lift director approves the lift plan — crane configuration and capacity at radius, ground bearing and mat design, sling and hardware selection, load weight verification, exclusion zones and the sequence — and remains accountable when conditions change mid-lift. That accountability is priced highest where the consequences are largest: heavy industrial turnarounds, power generation outages, refinery and offshore module work, and heavy machinery relocation. Supervisors who hold operator and Level II rigger certifications alongside supervisory experience command the upper part of the band. Employment is projected to grow 5.3% through 2034 with roughly 74,400 openings a year across the pooled supervisory series. → Full rigging supervisor career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $79,920 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Rigging Supervisors earn a national median $79,920/yr ($38.42/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 47-1011); the P10 to P90 range is $53,280 to $128,260.
- The figures come from the pooled BLS construction trades supervisors series, so treat the $79,920 median as the front-line supervision rate; rigging supervision sits at or above its midpoint within a $53,280 to $128,260 band.
- What lifts pay here is accountability for the lift plan — capacity at radius, ground bearing, hardware selection and exclusion zones — not headcount supervised.
- Industrial turnaround, power outage and heavy machinery relocation work pays the most, and supervisors holding both crane operator and Level II rigger certification sit in the upper part of the band.
US Rigging Supervisor Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do rigging supervisors earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 47-1011; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 47-1011, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does a rigging supervisor earn at each career stage?
Rigging supervision pay is driven by lift complexity and formal accountability, not crew size. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 47-1011.
By State
Which states pay rigging supervisors the most in 2026?
State figures are modeled estimates — the BLS national median scaled by the GlobalCybers salary-calculator state wage index — not BLS state observations. For rigging supervision the strongest geographic driver is industrial density: states with refining, chemical, shipbuilding and power generation capacity pay above the modeled level because turnaround seasons compete for a small pool of qualified lift directors.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($91,910), the highest-paying state shown. See all 51 state salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay rigging supervisors the most?
Metro figures are modeled — national median times state wage index times published metro index — not BLS MSA observations. Much of the best-paid rigging supervision is at industrial sites outside metro cores, where compensation comes from project duration, shift length and per diem rather than a city premium.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a rigging supervisor’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does rigging supervisor pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Rigging Supervisors sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify rigging supervisor wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a rigging supervisor actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Rigging Supervisor Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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