Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,636
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$9,714
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,729
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$52,350
Kept after tax
$42,636
Worth in national money
$43,729
State rank
37
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Pennsylvania. The middle earner gets $52,350. That is 37 of 49 states, and about 8.85% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations Pennsylvania reports figures for, this is number 288.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $52,350, tax leaves $42,636, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $43,729 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $53,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- For excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining, Pennsylvania sits in the lower band at $52,350, ranking 37 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 8.85%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Pennsylvania's occupational distribution, excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining sits at 288 of 492 — 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 Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining — median $52,350 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $42,636 retained, $43,729 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $53,930 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 | $45,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,220 |
| This salary | $52,350 |
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 Pennsylvania | $42,636 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,243 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,800 |
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 | $50,350 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,177 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining in Pennsylvania earn under $52,350 and half over. The published range runs $45,800 at the tenth percentile to $60,220 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $42,636, worked from $52,350. 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 288 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,729 uses one figure for the whole of Pennsylvania. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 288.
- Figures are distribution medians for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,800 to $60,220; 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.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $42,636, on $52,350 for work ranking 288 of 492 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 288 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,729, worked from $52,350, 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 Pennsylvania address, on work sitting at 288 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $53,930, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $45,800 at the tenth percentile, $60,220 at the ninetieth.
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 $43,729.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $42,636 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 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 Pennsylvania is $53,930. 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 ($45,800 to $60,220) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $43,729 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 $42,636 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.