Best Cities for Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasterss

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where explosives workers, ordnance handling experts, and blasterss get the most value from their salary after accounting for cost of living. A score above 1.00 means better than national average.

How we calculate this: City Score = (Local Salary ÷ National Median) ÷ (Local Cost ÷ National Avg Cost). A score of 1.20 means 20% better purchasing power than average.

#	Location	Score	Raw Salary	Adjusted Salary	Rent/Income
1	New JerseyState	1.50	$100,520	$92,390	21%
2	WyomingState	1.49	$85,070	$91,473	14%
3	North CarolinaState	1.48	$85,630	$90,710	18%
4	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SCMetro	1.48	$86,900	$90,710	21%
5	PennsylvaniaState	1.42	$84,400	$87,010	18%
6	New MexicoState	1.40	$78,960	$85,826	16%
7	New YorkState	1.40	$96,940	$86,169	23%
8	TennesseeState	1.32	$74,190	$81,082	20%
9	CaliforniaState	1.18	$80,370	$72,602	34%
10	MissouriState	1.18	$64,040	$72,280	19%
11	AlabamaState	1.12	$59,820	$68,680	19%
12	FloridaState	1.12	$69,780	$68,749	30%
13	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TXMetro	1.11	$62,610	$68,054	25%
14	UtahState	1.10	$67,910	$67,774	26%
15	Kansas City, MO-KSMetro	1.09	$62,140	$66,961	25%
16	ColoradoState	1.08	$69,640	$66,072	32%
17	GeorgiaState	1.07	$61,480	$65,824	28%
18	IndianaState	1.06	$59,110	$65,315	21%
19	IdahoState	1.02	$60,360	$62,549	24%
20	OklahomaState	1.02	$55,180	$62,350	21%
21	South DakotaState	1.02	$56,780	$62,533	20%
22	IllinoisState	1.01	$60,520	$62,136	26%
23	VirginiaState	1.01	$63,920	$61,758	30%
24	ArkansasState	1.00	$53,120	$61,553	20%
25	NevadaState	0.98	$60,500	$60,379	29%
26	HawaiiState	0.96	$64,560	$58,691	44%
27	TexasState	0.96	$56,600	$59,205	29%
28	West VirginiaState	0.96	$49,630	$58,943	20%
29	KentuckyState	0.93	$50,360	$56,904	23%
30	WisconsinState	0.92	$52,400	$56,771	25%
31	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WVMetro	0.92	$63,920	$56,667	37%
32	MississippiState	0.90	$47,060	$55,495	23%
33	MarylandState	0.89	$59,720	$54,689	34%
34	OhioState	0.84	$46,630	$51,582	27%
35	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TXMetro	0.76	$45,180	$46,481	42%
36	IowaState	0.72	$39,520	$44,305	29%
37	LouisianaState	0.72	$39,900	$44,284	32%

Data Sources: Salary: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS). Cost of Living: BEA Regional Price Parities (2024). Rent: HUD Fair Market Rents (FY2025).