Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining salary

SOC 47-5022 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$57,430

per year, nationally

Middle half

$47,890–$65,730

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

34,480

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-0.4%

3,100 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$41,600$82,400

10th: $41,600
25th: $47,890
Median: $57,430
75th: $65,730
90th: $82,400

Getting in

Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent
Related work experience: Less than 5 years
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	North Dakota	$90,380	89.0	220	2.31×
2	Illinois	$80,600	100.0	1,310	0.97×
3	New Jersey	$80,310	108.8	740	0.78×
4	Wyoming	$78,230	92.7	420	6.72×
5	New Mexico	$76,350	92.2	270	1.42×
6	Massachusetts	$76,070	105.8	280	0.35×
7	Alaska	$74,680	102.4	140	1.99×
8	California	$74,500	110.7	790	0.19×
9	Montana	$65,850	94.6	150	1.35×
10	Connecticut	$65,710	103.6	280	0.73×
11	Washington	$64,270	107.0	640	0.82×
12	Nevada	$63,810	100.0	730	2.11×
13	Indiana	$61,910	93.3	1,530	2.16×
14	West Virginia	$61,330	89.5	650	4.18×
15	Oregon	$61,280	103.4	310	0.72×
16	Minnesota	$61,260	98.6	520	0.79×
17	Colorado	$61,020	103.1	820	1.28×
18	Arizona	$60,310	100.7	560	0.78×
19	Vermont	$59,790	98.0	250	3.67×
20	Rhode Island	$59,590	102.3	50	0.48×
21	Virginia	$59,480	101.1	1,150	1.26×
22	Iowa	$59,390	87.8	560	1.62×
23	Michigan	$59,040	96.2	880	0.90×
24	Idaho	$58,670	95.5	190	0.99×
25	North Carolina	$58,620	94.3	—	—
26	New Hampshire	$58,540	104.2	350	2.32×
27	Nebraska	$58,370	90.1	300	1.31×
28	Wisconsin	$58,280	94.1	990	1.51×
29	Ohio	$58,240	92.8	1,120	0.91×
30	New York	$58,120	107.9	1,490	0.69×
31	Maryland	$57,610	105.0	730	1.18×
32	Missouri	$56,760	90.8	310	0.48×
33	Maine	$55,890	97.0	230	1.60×
34	Utah	$54,330	98.9	400	1.05×
35	Louisiana	$53,510	88.2	280	0.65×
36	South Carolina	$52,580	93.7	330	0.65×
37	Pennsylvania	$52,350	97.6	1,520	1.13×
38	Florida	$51,990	103.4	1,480	0.67×
39	Georgia	$50,290	96.3	1,180	1.08×
40	Tennessee	$49,500	91.9	550	0.76×
41	Texas	$49,000	97.1	5,030	1.61×
42	Kansas	$48,950	90.1	270	0.85×
43	Mississippi	$48,490	87.0	290	1.12×
44	South Dakota	$48,250	88.6	280	2.74×
45	Kentucky	$47,780	90.2	790	1.79×
46	Alabama	$47,770	88.8	410	0.88×
47	Oklahoma	$47,100	87.8	1,440	3.80×
48	Delaware	$46,900	99.8	130	1.21×
49	Arkansas	$46,170	86.9	250	0.87×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$142,970	106.7	40	0.19×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$122,410	115.6	90	0.18×
3	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$94,960	112.6	880	0.42×
4	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$87,060	103.6	570	0.57×
5	Farmington, NM	$85,880	87.7	50	4.37×
6	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$82,560	110.4	30	0.12×
7	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$81,180	104.8	210	0.48×
8	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$76,110	108.3	180	0.30×
9	College Station-Bryan, TX	$75,440	91.0	60	2.14×
10	New Haven, CT	$75,110	104.6	70	1.07×
11	Fresno, CA	$74,390	102.2	30	0.32×
12	Worcester, MA	$73,780	102.5	60	0.75×
13	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$73,300	111.1	210	0.44×
14	Pittsfield, MA	$71,300	95.1	40	3.39×
15	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$69,240	106.4	80	0.20×
16	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	$68,600	95.5	100	0.77×
17	Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ	$67,260	98.3	40	2.32×
18	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$66,160	105.4	110	0.43×
19	Cleveland, OH	$65,900	93.9	110	0.47×
20	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$65,370	105.8	120	0.34×
21	Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN	$65,290	93.4	30	1.48×
22	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$65,260	100.9	40	0.60×
23	Glens Falls, NY	$65,200	94.9	50	4.17×
24	Appleton, WI	$64,720	92.4	120	4.52×
25	Albuquerque, NM	$64,650	95.5	40	0.43×
26	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$64,580	103.3	240	0.46×
27	Manchester-Nashua, NH	$64,470	105.7	70	1.55×
28	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$64,400	113.6	100	0.07×
29	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$63,700	100.9	40	1.51×
30	Pueblo, CO	$63,600	91.8	40	3.18×
31	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$62,660	100.2	120	0.47×
32	Salem, OR	$62,510	103.6	40	0.98×
33	Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL	$61,990	89.1	60	1.54×
34	Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA	$61,830	91.7	80	0.88×
35	Canton-Massillon, OH	$61,770	89.4	40	0.98×
36	Vineland, NJ	$61,760	96.0	40	3.07×
37	Colorado Springs, CO	$61,410	100.7	50	0.65×
38	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$61,410	99.8	40	1.17×
39	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$61,330	95.7	320	1.31×
40	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$61,140	93.1	240	1.56×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Roustabouts, Oil and Gas$46,960
Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas$58,160
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas$60,190
Continuous Mining Machine Operators$61,810
Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas$67,890
Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas$58,620
Helpers--Extraction Workers$47,730
Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining$74,500

Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining earn the most

Best paying metro areas for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining

Similar occupations

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