Best Cities for Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Minings

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where loading and moving machine operators, underground minings 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	WyomingState	1.62	$112,110	$120,548	11%
2	AlaskaState	1.20	$93,130	$89,291	18%
3	West VirginiaState	1.19	$74,950	$89,014	13%
4	South CarolinaState	1.17	$80,480	$87,478	19%
5	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SCMetro	1.13	$80,480	$84,008	22%
6	NevadaState	1.11	$82,920	$82,754	21%
7	OhioState	1.06	$71,380	$78,960	18%
8	IllinoisState	1.05	$75,890	$77,916	21%
9	PennsylvaniaState	1.04	$75,240	$77,567	21%
10	ColoradoState	1.01	$79,150	$75,095	28%
11	VirginiaState	1.00	$76,900	$74,300	25%
12	ArizonaState	0.96	$72,430	$71,784	25%
13	AlabamaState	0.92	$60,020	$68,909	19%
14	MichiganState	0.86	$59,310	$64,258	23%
15	MissouriState	0.79	$52,040	$58,736	24%
16	IowaState	0.73	$48,490	$54,361	24%
17	LouisianaState	0.73	$48,670	$54,018	26%
18	New YorkState	0.73	$60,890	$54,124	36%
19	GeorgiaState	0.72	$50,380	$53,940	34%
20	OklahomaState	0.68	$44,760	$50,576	26%
21	TexasState	0.66	$47,310	$49,487	35%

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