Start with the answer
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining pay in Iowa and North Dakota
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining is $59,390 per year in Iowa. It is $90,380 per year in North Dakota. Iowa is 34.3% below North Dakota on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 47-5022 and the same annual wage metric. Median means the middle of each area's published wage spread. It is not one worker's pay. The larger median is not proof that one place gives a better job or a better result. It is one wage fact from one source period.
BLS lists 560 wage and salary jobs in Iowa and 220 in North Dakota. Those are survey job counts, not open posts. Read pay, job scale, local share, and price level as separate facts before you make a choice.
Evidence: bls-oews-may-2025 · Rule: same-soc-same-metric-pair · nominal-median-gap · employment-not-openings