Roustabouts, Oil and Gas salary

SOC 47-5071 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$46,960

per year, nationally

Middle half

$38,850–$58,120

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

44,970

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+2.5%

4,300 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.

$36,420$64,530

10th: $36,420
25th: $38,850
Median: $46,960
75th: $58,120
90th: $64,530

Getting in

Typical education to enter: No formal educational credential
Related work experience: None
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 roustabouts, oil and gas 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	Alaska	$60,810	102.4	430	4.60×
2	North Dakota	$60,480	89.0	2,460	19.77×
3	Montana	$58,800	94.6	200	1.37×
4	Florida	$57,080	103.4	40	0.01×
5	Nebraska	$53,340	90.1	40	0.13×
6	Indiana	$51,740	93.3	100	0.11×
7	Michigan	$51,720	96.2	290	0.23×
8	Ohio	$51,230	92.8	450	0.28×
9	South Dakota	$50,370	88.6	40	0.32×
10	New Mexico	$50,000	92.2	2,220	8.82×
11	Alabama	$49,400	88.8	70	0.12×
12	Mississippi	$49,240	87.0	420	1.25×
13	Colorado	$49,050	103.1	1,620	1.94×
14	California	$48,880	110.7	660	0.13×
15	Utah	$48,270	98.9	740	1.47×
16	Pennsylvania	$47,520	97.6	1,610	0.92×
17	Oklahoma	$47,260	87.8	2,730	5.53×
18	Wyoming	$46,660	92.7	1,180	14.56×
19	Illinois	$46,500	100.0	290	0.16×
20	Kansas	$46,220	90.1	570	1.37×
21	Texas	$45,950	97.1	24,430	6.00×
22	Arkansas	$44,960	86.9	120	0.32×
23	Louisiana	$44,850	88.2	3,460	6.18×

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 roustabouts, oil and gas wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for roustabouts, oil and gas

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	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$71,280	110.5	40	0.46×
2	Columbus, OH	$66,940	95.5	60	0.20×
3	Jackson, MS	$60,410	89.0	60	0.81×
4	Wichita, KS	$57,600	88.9	90	0.97×
5	Tyler, TX	$55,000	92.2	250	7.60×
6	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$52,640	100.9	240	2.41×
7	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$52,320	100.9	70	0.31×
8	Traverse City, MI	$51,720	93.4	100	4.81×
9	Wheeling, WV-OH	$51,230	88.3	60	3.72×
10	Minot, ND	$50,490	87.0	220	23.06×
11	Lafayette, LA	$49,970	87.2	910	17.43×
12	Oklahoma City, OK	$49,930	90.4	800	4.09×
13	Farmington, NM	$48,970	87.7	210	15.37×
14	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$48,790	113.6	120	0.07×
15	Greeley, CO	$48,540	100.2	910	26.29×
16	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$48,030	103.1	1,740	1.48×
17	Pittsburgh, PA	$47,830	94.7	800	2.47×
18	Cheyenne, WY	$47,780	96.5	110	7.54×
19	Grand Junction, CO	$47,720	95.5	130	6.94×
20	Victoria, TX	$47,650	89.8	220	19.86×
21	Tulsa, OK	$47,540	89.2	220	1.66×
22	Casper, WY	$47,270	93.8	230	19.90×
23	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$47,260	98.6	5,850	6.15×
24	Midland, TX	$47,180	95.8	3,940	111.55×
25	Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA	$46,060	85.1	350	14.37×
26	Lake Charles, LA	$45,900	85.9	90	3.06×
27	Wichita Falls, TX	$45,720	89.5	160	9.88×
28	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX	$45,690	94.7	620	1.89×
29	Odessa, TX	$45,650	93.9	2,060	88.19×
30	Abilene, TX	$45,410	90.4	150	7.13×
31	Lubbock, TX	$44,920	91.3	450	9.26×
32	Longview, TX	$43,200	89.5	750	21.99×
33	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$43,110	90.0	220	4.64×
34	Corpus Christi, TX	$42,210	92.7	340	6.16×
35	Shreveport-Bossier City, LA	$41,610	84.8	550	11.77×
36	San Angelo, TX	$40,010	92.5	230	15.89×
37	College Station-Bryan, TX	$38,220	91.0	200	5.07×
38	Enid, OK	$36,700	84.3	170	24.92×
39	Laredo, TX	$36,570	87.0	220	6.87×
40	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX	$34,790	85.9	130	1.53×

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 roustabouts, oil and gas wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas$58,160
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining$57,430
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