Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining · SOC 47-5022

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Minings

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

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (1 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 118 metro areas

Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$142,970	40	0.0
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$122,410	90	0.0
3	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$94,960	880	0.1
4	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$87,060	570	0.1
5	Farmington, NM	$85,880	50	1.0
6	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$82,560	30	0.0
7	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$81,180	210	0.1
8	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$76,110	180	0.1
9	College Station-Bryan, TX	$75,440	60	0.5
10	New Haven, CT	$75,110	70	0.2
11	Fresno, CA	$74,390	30	0.1
12	Worcester, MA	$73,780	60	0.2
13	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$73,300	210	0.1
14	Pittsfield, MA	$71,300	40	0.8
15	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$69,240	80	0.0
16	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	$68,600	100	0.2
17	Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ	$67,260	40	0.5
18	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$66,160	110	0.1
19	Cleveland, OH	$65,900	110	0.1
20	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$65,370	120	0.1
21	Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN	$65,290	30	0.3
22	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$65,260	40	0.1
23	Glens Falls, NY	$65,200	50	0.9
24	Appleton, WI	$64,720	120	1.0
25	Albuquerque, NM	$64,650	40	0.1

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining 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.