Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $48K, rent takes 33.2% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,057/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,000/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 $48K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,854/month. At HUD’s $1,057/month FMR, rent would take 37% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay runs 17% below the national median — $48K here vs. $57K nationally. Cost of living is 11% below the national average, which narrows that gap in real purchasing power.

Topeka pays $48K median vs. the U.S. average of $57K — that’s -17%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 88.82), the purchasing-power equivalent is $54K — below the national median.

The median is $47,570 a year, that works out to about $23 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $47,570, and experienced excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface minings can clear $57,970. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,184/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,057/month, which eats 33.2% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Topeka has a Regional Price Parity of 88.82 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining salary is worth about $53,558 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.