Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,313
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$12,167
20.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,961
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$59,480
Kept after tax
$47,313
Worth in national money
$46,961
State rank
21
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Virginia is 21 of 49 states for this job, with a middle wage of $59,480. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Virginia, this sits in the middle: 249 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $59,480, take-home of $47,313 is worth roughly $46,961 in national money. The average comes to $60,280, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Virginia ranks 21 of 49 for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining at $59,480. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining ranks 249 of 489 occupations in Virginia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining, whose median is $59,480, the adjusted figure of $46,961 differs little from $47,313 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $60,280 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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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 | $40,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,080 |
| This salary | $59,480 |
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 Virginia | $47,313 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,972 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,464 |
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 | $56,170 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,399 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,480 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,410 and the ninetieth is $83,080 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $47,313 take-home in Virginia comes from $59,480. 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 249 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $46,961 uses one figure for the whole of Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 249.
- The Virginia median of $59,480 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,410 to $83,080. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $47,313, from $59,480, assumes a single Virginia 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 249 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 21 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $46,961, worked from $59,480, 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 Virginia address, on work sitting at 249 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $40,410 and the top tenth $83,080, so most people doing this work in Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Virginia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $46,961 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 Virginia's own levy, $47,313 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($40,410 to $83,080) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $46,961 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $47,313 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.