Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $54K, rent takes 54.1% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,930/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,100/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 $38K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,550/month.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $54K locally vs. $57K nationally, a 6% difference.

Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area pays $54K median vs. the U.S. average of $57K — that’s -6%.

The median is $53,760 a year, that works out to about $26 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $37,650, and experienced excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface minings can clear $61,150. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,568/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,930/month, which eats 54.1% 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.

Western North Carolina 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 $53,760 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.