How much money does a crane operator earn?

I am currently working as a contractor at a refinery/chemical plant in Texas City, TX and crane operators with no experience but with the NCCCO certification are starting out at $26 per hour and overtime is double time. Our current working schedule is 18 days on with 3 days off, working 12 hours per day. Depending on your taxes that comes out to be around $3,000 per week. One operator out here is making $45 per hour with double time for overtime with over 8 years of experience as a crane operator. I also recently found that some operators starting out on carry decks are making around $18 an hour and in some places as low as $12 an hour. It really depends on your location and industry you are working around. Hope that helps a little. Just remember that you must have NCCCO to become a crane operator in most places in America.