Salaries / Forklift Operator
Transportation & Warehouse · SOC 53-7051
Forklift Operator salary
Industrial truck and forklift operators move materials around warehouses, factories, and storage yards.
California · 2025
Median annual (CA)
$47,770
Median hourly (CA)
$22.97
Typical range (CA)
$38,650 to $63,330
California source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS 2025.
National
Median annual
$46,420
Median hourly
$22.32
Typical range
$36,840 to $62,520
National source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025. Figures are gross pay and vary by location, employer, and experience.
The pay range, visually.
Low end (about the 10th percentile), median, and high end (about the 90th percentile).
By state, at a glance
These at-a-glance figures are estimates derived from the national median and a state wage index, shown to give a rough sense of local differences. Pick any state (here or in the selector above) to look up its real figures.
Your skills are a business
Ideas we have for people in transportation & warehouse.
The same experience that earns a paycheck as a forklift operator can start a business. Here are real ideas from our marketplace that fit this field.
Start a Warehouse Near-Miss Detection Service Using Existing Cameras
A safety analytics service that runs a warehouse's existing CCTV through detection models to find forklift-pedestrian close calls, then delivers weekly clip digests and trend reports that let safety managers fix layouts before the injury happens.
Start a Box Truck Delivery Business
Run one or more 16 to 26 foot box trucks on last-mile and regional delivery contracts for retailers, freight networks, and moving customers, a trucking entry that skips the semi and the long-haul lifestyle.
Start a Strike and Rapid-Response Staffing Agency
Mobilize large teams of qualified workers within 24 to 72 hours to cover labor strikes and critical staffing emergencies, at crisis pricing of two to three times normal bill rates plus a mobilization fee.
Start a Disaster-Response Staffing Agency
Deploy pre-credentialed workers to FEMA, government, and enterprise clients within hours of a disaster, funded by standby retainers, activation fees, and hazard-premium bill rates.
You could hire forklift operators, not just be one.
We have a staffing calculator to price the work and a full course on how to start a staffing agency, so you can turn a field you already know into a business that puts other people to work.