Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$71,909
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$18,471
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$81,187
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$90,380
Kept after tax
$71,909
Worth in national money
$81,187
State rank
1
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- North Dakota is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $90,380, which ranks 1 of 49 states with published figures. That is about 57.37% above the national middle.
- Within North Dakota this is well-paid work. Of 460 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 73 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $90,380 you keep $71,909 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $81,187 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $88,100.
- North Dakota ranks 1 of 49 states publishing a median for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining, at $90,380 — about 57.37% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation North Dakota publishes a median for, excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining sits 73 of 460 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $71,909 after the full tax stack, from $90,380. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $81,187 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $88,100 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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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 | $50,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $90,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,880 |
| This salary | $90,380 |
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 North Dakota | $71,909 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $72,412 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,670 |
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 | $89,665 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,213 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Dakota earn less than $90,380. The published range is $50,440 up to $123,880, 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 North Dakota's $71,909, worked from $90,380. 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 73 of 460.
- Two cautions on $81,187, the adjusted value of that $90,380 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 73 of 460 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining in North Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $50,440 to $123,880. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The North Dakota take-home of $71,909, on $90,380 for work ranking 73 of 460 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 73 of 460 in the state.
- This $81,187 adjusted figure, worked from $90,380, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 73 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 73 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $50,440 and the top tenth $123,880 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Dakota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $81,187 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and North Dakota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $71,909 of this wage survives to your account.
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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($50,440) and the ninetieth ($123,880) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota'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 $81,187 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 $71,909 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.