Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas · SOC 47-5023

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gass

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for earth drillers, except oil and gas. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked. Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 82 metro areas

Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Fairbanks-College, AK	$94,600	60	1.5
2	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$89,300	90	0.0
3	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$81,960	220	0.1
4	Anchorage, AK	$80,030	Not published	Not published
5	Billings, MT	$78,410	40	0.4
6	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$76,850	120	0.1
7	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$74,300	140	0.1
8	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$74,120	530	0.1
9	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$73,560	210	0.2
10	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$73,090	90	0.0
11	Saginaw, MI	$72,800	30	0.4
12	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$71,790	150	0.1
13	Flint, MI	$71,650	30	0.2
14	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$71,280	40	0.1
15	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$67,530	Not published	Not published
16	Colorado Springs, CO	$66,360	50	0.2
17	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$64,360	240	0.1
18	Cleveland, OH	$64,260	50	0.0
19	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$64,200	70	0.2
20	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$63,760	120	0.1
21	Midland, TX	$63,730	60	0.5
22	Bend, OR	$63,490	40	0.4
23	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$63,460	50	0.2
24	Lansing-East Lansing, MI	$63,440	30	0.1
25	Omaha, NE-IA	$63,330	60	0.1

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.