Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $85K, rent takes 26.8% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,421/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface minings typically earn — is $48K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,858/month.

Local pay is 47% above the national median — $85K here vs. $57K nationally.

Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area pays $85K median vs. the U.S. average of $57K — that’s +47%.

The median is $84,560 a year, that works out to about $41 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $47,640, and experienced excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface minings can clear $88,820. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $5,307/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,421/month, which eats 26.8% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Northwest Illinois nonmetropolitan area has a Regional Price Parity of 100 (100 is the national average). That's right at the national average. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining salary is worth about $84,560 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.