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Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining pay in North Dakota and Utah
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining is $90,380 per year in North Dakota. It is $54,330 per year in Utah. North Dakota is 66.4% above Utah 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 220 wage and salary jobs in North Dakota and 400 in Utah. 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