Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,601
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$12,079
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,677
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — 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
$60,680
Kept after tax
$48,601
Worth in national money
$55,677
State rank
25
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Mississippi is 25 of 48 states for earth drillers, except oil and gas, with a middle wage of $60,680. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Mississippi, this sits in the middle: 149 of 486 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Mississippi does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $60,680 you keep $48,601, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $55,677 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $63,980, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Mississippi ranks 25 of 48 for earth drillers, except oil and gas at $60,680. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 149 of 486 occupations in Mississippi 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.
- After federal, FICA and Mississippi income tax, retained pay for earth drillers, except oil and gas on $60,680 is $48,601. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $55,677 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $63,980 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,990 |
| This salary | $60,680 |
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 Mississippi | $48,601 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,936 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,259 |
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 | $57,774 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,942 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of earth drillers, except oil and gas in Mississippi earn under $60,680 and half over. The published range runs $39,670 at the tenth percentile to $81,990 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $48,601 take-home in Mississippi comes from $60,680. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 149 of 486.
- One number stands for prices across all of Mississippi, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,677, the adjusted value of that $60,680 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 149 of 486 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for earth drillers, except oil and gas in Mississippi, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,670 to $81,990; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $48,601, from $60,680, assumes a single Mississippi filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 149 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $55,677 — the adjusted value of that $60,680 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 149 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $63,980, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $39,670 and the top tenth $81,990, so most people doing this work in Mississippi sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $55,677.
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 Mississippi's own levy, $48,601 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Mississippi is $63,980. 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 ($39,670 to $81,990) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Mississippi rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Mississippi'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 $55,677 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 $48,601 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi 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.