Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in Wyoming
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,966
after federal, FICA and Wyoming tax
Tax takes
$10,484
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,402
Wyoming costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wyoming — 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
$64,450
Kept after tax
$53,966
Worth in national money
$59,402
State rank
13
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wyoming is one of the better-paying states for earth drillers, except oil and gas. The middle earner takes $64,450, which ranks 13 of 48 states with published figures. That is about 7.08% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 154 among 433 occupations Wyoming publishes pay for.
- Here is where Wyoming does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $64,450 you keep $53,966, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $59,402 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $61,980, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Wyoming ranks 13 of 48 states publishing a median for earth drillers, except oil and gas, at $64,450 — about 7.08% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 154 of 433 in Wyoming 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wyoming income tax, retained pay for earth drillers, except oil and gas on $64,450 is $53,966. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $59,402 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 $61,980 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,260 |
| This salary | $64,450 |
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 Wyoming | $53,966 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,966 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,868 |
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 | $64,450 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,051 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
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 Wyoming earn under $64,450 and half over. The published range runs $47,420 at the tenth percentile to $78,260 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $53,966 take-home in Wyoming comes from $64,450. 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 154 of 433.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $59,402 uses one figure for the whole of Wyoming. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 433 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 154.
- Figures are distribution medians for earth drillers, except oil and gas in Wyoming, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,420 to $78,260; 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 $53,966, from $64,450, assumes a single Wyoming 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 154 of 433 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $59,402, worked from $64,450, 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 Wyoming address, on work sitting at 154 of 433 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 $61,980 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 $47,420 and the top tenth $78,260, so most people doing this work in Wyoming sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wyoming sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $59,402 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $53,966 of this wage reaches your account, because Wyoming takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Wyoming is $61,980. 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 ($47,420 to $78,260) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wyoming rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wyoming'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 $59,402 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Wyoming levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $53,966 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.