Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,635
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$11,255
20.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,970
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$55,890
Kept after tax
$44,635
Worth in national money
$45,970
State rank
33
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Maine. The middle earner gets $55,890. That is 33 of 49 states, and about 2.68% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 484 occupations Maine reports figures for, this is number 277.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $55,890, tax leaves $44,635, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $45,970 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $57,470, since top earners drag the number up.
- For excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining, Maine sits in the lower band at $55,890, ranking 33 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 2.68%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Maine's occupational distribution, excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining sits at 277 of 484 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining — median $55,890 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $44,635 retained, $45,970 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $57,470 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,480 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,230 |
| This salary | $55,890 |
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 Maine | $44,635 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,088 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,487 |
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 | $52,838 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,008 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maine earn less than $55,890. The published range is $44,480 up to $76,230, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $44,635 take-home in Maine comes from $55,890. 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 277 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $45,970 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 277.
- Reported values are medians; for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining in Maine the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $44,480 to $76,230. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $44,635, from $55,890, assumes a single Maine 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 277 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 33 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $45,970, worked from $55,890, 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 Maine address, on work sitting at 277 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $44,480 at the bottom tenth to $76,230 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $45,970 in national terms.
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 Maine's own levy, $44,635 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($44,480 to $76,230) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $45,970 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 $44,635 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.