Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $61K, rent takes 30% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,199/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,200/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface minings typically earn — is $42K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,496/month.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $61K locally vs. $57K nationally, a 6% difference.

Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area pays $61K median vs. the U.S. average of $57K — that’s +6%.

The median is $61,000 a year, that works out to about $29 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $41,600, and experienced excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface minings can clear $62,040. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $4,000/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,199/month, which eats 30% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Northwest Iowa 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 $61,000 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.