Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,138
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$14,902
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,040
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$80,040
Kept after tax
$65,138
Worth in national money
$64,040
State rank
2
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for earth drillers, except oil and gas is strong here. Alaska's middle earner gets $80,040, putting the state 2 of 48 — about 32.98% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 151 among 430 occupations Alaska publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $80,040 the take-home is $65,138, which is worth about $64,040 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $77,300, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For earth drillers, except oil and gas, Alaska sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $80,040, ranking 2 of 48 and running about 32.98% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 151 of 430 in Alaska places earth drillers, except oil and gas in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for earth drillers, except oil and gas on its $80,040 median: $65,138 retained after tax becomes $64,040 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $77,300 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $94,630 |
| This salary | $80,040 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Alaska | $65,138 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,138 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,992 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $80,040 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,133 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Alaska earn less than $80,040. The published range is $61,180 up to $94,630, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alaska's $65,138, worked from $80,040. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 151 of 430.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $64,040 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 151.
- Reported values are medians; for earth drillers, except oil and gas in Alaska the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $61,180 to $94,630. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Alaska take-home of $65,138, on $80,040 for work ranking 151 of 430 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 151 of 430 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $64,040, worked from $80,040, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Alaska address, on work sitting at 151 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $77,300 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $61,180 and the top tenth $94,630, so most people doing this work in Alaska sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Alaska costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $64,040 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $65,138 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Alaska is $77,300. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($61,180 to $94,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $64,040 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $65,138 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.