Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,536
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$11,794
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,180
West Virginia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in West 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
$61,330
Kept after tax
$49,536
Worth in national money
$55,180
State rank
14
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. West Virginia's middle earner gets $61,330, putting the state 14 of 49 — about 6.79% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in West Virginia, this sits in the middle: 162 of 473 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $61,330 you keep $49,536 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $55,180 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $62,500, since top earners drag the number up.
- For excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining, West Virginia sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $61,330, ranking 14 of 49 and running about 6.79% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining ranks 162 of 473 occupations in West 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.
- Retained pay in West Virginia is $49,536 after the full tax stack, from $61,330. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $55,180 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $62,500 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 | $46,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,320 |
| This salary | $61,330 |
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 West Virginia | $49,536 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,459 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,226 |
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 | $58,938 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,692 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
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 West Virginia earn under $61,330 and half over. The published range runs $46,030 at the tenth percentile to $79,320 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $49,536 take-home in West Virginia comes from $61,330. 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 162 of 473.
- One number stands for prices across all of West Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,180, the adjusted value of that $61,330 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 162 of 473 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining in West Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,030 to $79,320; 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.
- Retained pay of $49,536, from $61,330, assumes a single West 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 162 of 473 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for West Virginia, so $55,180 — the adjusted value of that $61,330 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 162 of 473 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $46,030 at the tenth percentile, $79,320 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in West Virginia sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $55,180 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; West Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $49,536.
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 ($46,030 to $79,320) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to West Virginia rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
West Virginia'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 $55,180 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 $49,536 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and West 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.