Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in Idaho

A hard hat, safety glasses and tool belt beside timber house framing.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$44,183

after federal, FICA and Idaho tax

Tax takes

$10,647

19.4% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$48,327

Idaho costs less than average

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

$54,830

Kept after tax

$44,183

Worth in national money

$48,327

State rank

41

of 48 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Idaho is among the lower-paying states for earth drillers, except oil and gas. The middle earner takes $54,830, ranking 41 of 48 states — about 8.91% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
  • Against other work in Idaho, this sits in the middle: 240 of 476 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $54,830 you keep $44,183 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $48,327 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $57,690, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Idaho ranks 41 of 48 for earth drillers, except oil and gas, with a median of $54,830 — about 8.91% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
  • Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 240 of 476 occupations in Idaho by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
  • Retained pay in Idaho is $44,183 after the full tax stack, from $54,830. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $48,327 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $57,690 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$45,300
Half earn under$54,830
Top tenth earn over$78,460
This salary$54,830

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

Compare with
+$2,053take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Idaho$44,183
Take-home in Texas$46,236
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$747

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

Moving to
$0$55,734
$55,734in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$52,275
Raise you would need+$904
Prices in Texas97 vs 91

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Half the people doing this work in Idaho earn less than $54,830. The published range is $45,300 up to $78,460, 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 Idaho's $44,183, worked from $54,830. 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 240 of 476.
  • One number stands for prices across all of Idaho, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $48,327, the adjusted value of that $54,830 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 240 of 476 in the state.
  • Reported values are medians; for earth drillers, except oil and gas in Idaho the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $45,300 to $78,460. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • The Idaho take-home of $44,183, on $54,830 for work ranking 240 of 476 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 240 of 476 in the state.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Idaho, so $48,327 — the adjusted value of that $54,830 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 240 of 476 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 $57,690 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

The range here is narrow. From $45,300 at the bottom tenth to $78,460 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

More than the figure suggests. Prices in Idaho sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $48,327 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.

Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?

Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Idaho's own levy, $44,183 remains.

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 Idaho is $57,690. 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 ($45,300 to $78,460) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Idaho rather than a national figure.

What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?

Idaho's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $48,327 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.

What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?

Take-home of $44,183 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.

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.