Riggers salary

SOC 49-9096 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$62,640

per year, nationally

Middle half

$48,210–$80,180

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

22,530

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+3.2%

2,500 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.

$40,680$97,850

10th: $40,680
25th: $48,210
Median: $62,640
75th: $80,180
90th: $97,850

Getting in

Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent
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 riggers 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	New York	$105,600	107.9	650	0.46×
2	Oregon	$94,470	103.4	290	1.01×
3	Utah	$93,640	98.9	490	1.96×
4	Maryland	$91,420	105.0	230	0.58×
5	Minnesota	$87,120	98.6	190	0.46×
6	California	$85,730	110.7	2,260	0.85×
7	Hawaii	$84,410	110.0	170	1.88×
8	New Jersey	$82,130	108.8	200	0.32×
9	Illinois	$81,860	100.0	120	0.14×
10	Nevada	$81,720	100.0	860	3.82×
11	North Dakota	$77,890	89.0	140	2.17×
12	Washington	$77,100	107.0	910	1.77×
13	Colorado	$73,720	103.1	310	0.75×
14	Idaho	$72,850	95.5	60	0.47×
15	Connecticut	$67,560	103.6	350	1.44×
16	Georgia	$67,200	96.3	700	0.99×
17	Maine	$64,910	97.0	330	3.60×
18	Rhode Island	$64,260	102.3	160	2.17×
19	Virginia	$63,620	101.1	1,920	3.22×
20	Mississippi	$63,390	87.0	320	1.88×
21	Iowa	$62,400	87.8	200	0.91×
22	Nebraska	$61,080	90.1	100	0.68×
23	Pennsylvania	$60,140	97.6	360	0.41×
24	Arkansas	$59,680	86.9	120	0.63×
25	Michigan	$58,490	96.2	380	0.60×
26	Ohio	$58,380	92.8	290	0.35×
27	Alaska	$58,010	102.4	40	0.84×
28	Alabama	$57,980	88.8	460	1.49×
29	North Carolina	$56,640	94.3	440	0.62×
30	Missouri	$54,190	90.8	190	0.46×
31	Massachusetts	$53,500	105.8	240	0.45×
32	Florida	$52,390	103.4	910	0.63×
33	Arizona	$52,370	100.7	250	0.54×
34	Texas	$51,980	97.1	3,770	1.85×
35	South Carolina	$51,020	93.7	470	1.40×
36	Kentucky	$50,270	90.2	—	—
37	Wisconsin	$49,640	94.1	170	0.40×
38	Oklahoma	$48,490	87.8	300	1.20×
39	Tennessee	$47,180	91.9	310	0.65×
40	Indiana	$46,090	93.3	330	0.70×
41	Louisiana	$43,660	88.2	1,840	6.56×
42	Kansas	$41,060	90.1	40	0.19×
43	New Mexico	$37,440	92.2	230	1.79×

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 riggers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for riggers

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	Fargo, ND-MN	$169,480	90.9	50	2.29×
2	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$103,030	112.6	620	0.45×
3	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$97,850	100.9	270	2.24×
4	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$96,880	113.6	1,250	1.37×
5	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$91,430	104.5	110	0.56×
6	Urban Honolulu, HI	$87,570	111.0	170	2.55×
7	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$87,120	104.8	140	0.51×
8	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$85,300	105.6	570	41.82×
9	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$82,370	115.6	140	0.40×
10	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$82,130	100.2	770	4.67×
11	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$81,860	103.6	100	0.15×
12	St. Louis, MO-IL	$81,350	95.1	80	0.40×
13	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$79,810	105.4	160	0.91×
14	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$78,840	111.1	160	0.53×
15	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$77,940	106.7	—	—
16	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$75,960	105.8	210	0.90×
17	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$75,860	110.5	50	1.07×
18	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$75,670	100.1	400	0.95×
19	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$75,640	102.7	80	0.94×
20	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$75,130	106.4	130	0.53×
21	Jackson, MS	$74,380	89.0	30	0.84×
22	Boise City, ID	$72,850	98.4	40	0.77×
23	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$72,660	102.6	140	0.34×
24	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$72,030	111.9	340	1.52×
25	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$69,030	108.9	280	0.61×
26	Reno, NV	$67,350	101.0	50	1.20×
27	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$65,820	96.9	50	0.43×
28	Portland-South Portland, ME	$64,910	101.9	280	6.65×
29	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$64,440	97.9	1,350	12.22×
30	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$64,430	98.6	1,140	2.39×
31	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$64,260	101.8	150	1.45×
32	Lincoln, NE	$64,110	91.6	40	1.40×
33	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$63,950	90.0	210	8.94×
34	Omaha, NE-IA	$62,740	91.9	—	—
35	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	$61,020	95.5	40	0.41×
36	Richmond, VA	$60,790	97.9	100	1.02×
37	Mobile, AL	$60,670	88.1	210	8.31×
38	Corpus Christi, TX	$60,240	92.7	220	7.86×
39	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$60,230	100.3	220	0.81×
40	Lynchburg, VA	$60,040	89.4	50	3.87×

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. Metro areas where riggers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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