Start with the answer
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining pay in Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN and Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining is $65,290 per year in Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN. It is $142,970 per year in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA. Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN is 54.3% below Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA 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 30 wage and salary jobs in Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN and 40 in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA. 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