Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,953
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,547
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,348
Tennessee costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Tennessee — 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
$49,500
Kept after tax
$41,953
Worth in national money
$45,348
State rank
40
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $49,500. That is 40 of 49 states, and about 13.81% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 284 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $49,500 you keep $41,953 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $45,348 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $54,260, since top earners drag the number up.
- For excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $49,500, ranking 40 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 13.81%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 284 of 491 in Tennessee places excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining 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.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $41,953 after the full tax stack, from $49,500. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,348 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $54,260 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 | $40,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,000 |
| This salary | $49,500 |
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 Tennessee | $41,953 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,953 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,175 |
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 | $49,500 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,630 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 Tennessee earn under $49,500 and half over. The published range runs $40,800 at the tenth percentile to $76,000 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $41,953, from $49,500, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 284 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $45,348 uses one figure for the whole of Tennessee. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 284.
- Figures are distribution medians for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,800 to $76,000; 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.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $41,953 from $49,500. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 284 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $45,348, worked from $49,500, 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 Tennessee address, on work sitting at 284 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $54,260, 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 $40,800 and the top tenth $76,000, so most people doing this work in Tennessee 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 $45,348.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $41,953 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 Tennessee is $54,260. 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 ($40,800 to $76,000) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Tennessee rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Tennessee'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 $45,348 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?
Tennessee levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $41,953 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.