Best Cities for Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlerss

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where rail yard engineers, dinkey operators, and hostlerss 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	West VirginiaState	1.79	$91,380	$108,527	11%
2	FloridaState	1.31	$80,360	$79,172	26%
3	OklahomaState	1.18	$63,400	$71,638	18%
4	KentuckyState	1.16	$62,070	$70,136	19%
5	PennsylvaniaState	1.11	$65,380	$67,402	24%
6	OhioState	1.09	$59,460	$65,774	21%
7	New JerseyState	1.08	$71,030	$65,285	30%
8	KansasState	1.03	$56,090	$62,322	22%
9	CaliforniaState	1.00	$67,160	$60,668	40%
10	IndianaState	0.99	$54,420	$60,133	23%
11	TennesseeState	0.97	$54,060	$59,082	28%
12	UtahState	0.96	$58,380	$58,263	31%
13	ColoradoState	0.95	$60,770	$57,657	36%
14	AlabamaState	0.93	$48,900	$56,142	24%
15	TexasState	0.92	$53,130	$55,575	31%
16	NevadaState	0.81	$48,970	$48,872	36%
17	ArkansasState	0.75	$38,980	$45,168	27%

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