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Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining pay in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA and Waterbury-Shelton, CT
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining is $142,970 per year in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA. It is $61,410 per year in Waterbury-Shelton, CT. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA is 132.8% above Waterbury-Shelton, CT 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 40 wage and salary jobs in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA and 40 in Waterbury-Shelton, CT. 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