Best Cities for Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gass

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where service unit operators, oil and gass 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	AlaskaState	1.76	$106,480	$102,090	15%
2	MissouriState	1.76	$90,580	$102,235	14%
3	MontanaState	1.39	$77,750	$80,654	17%
4	New MexicoState	1.21	$64,990	$70,641	19%
5	NebraskaState	1.18	$62,990	$68,842	20%
6	OhioState	1.17	$61,260	$67,765	20%
7	LouisianaState	1.16	$60,760	$67,436	21%
8	WyomingState	1.16	$62,560	$67,269	19%
9	West VirginiaState	1.15	$56,250	$66,805	18%
10	North DakotaState	1.13	$60,810	$65,670	19%
11	Pittsburgh, PAMetro	1.11	$59,520	$64,346	24%
12	OklahomaState	1.10	$56,680	$64,045	20%
13	IndianaState	1.08	$56,980	$62,961	22%
14	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TXMetro	1.08	$60,870	$62,623	31%
15	FloridaState	1.05	$62,050	$61,133	33%
16	MississippiState	1.01	$49,610	$58,502	22%
17	AlabamaState	0.98	$49,490	$56,820	23%
18	ColoradoState	0.98	$60,290	$57,201	37%
19	CaliforniaState	0.97	$62,580	$56,531	43%
20	MichiganState	0.97	$52,000	$56,338	26%
21	PennsylvaniaState	0.97	$54,780	$56,474	28%
22	UtahState	0.97	$56,290	$56,178	32%
23	ArkansasState	0.96	$48,120	$55,759	22%
24	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CAMetro	0.96	$65,140	$55,914	42%
25	South DakotaState	0.95	$49,920	$54,978	23%
26	TexasState	0.90	$49,820	$52,113	33%
27	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TXMetro	0.89	$47,650	$51,793	33%
28	KansasState	0.88	$46,230	$51,367	27%
29	IllinoisState	0.74	$41,680	$42,793	38%
30	New YorkState	0.70	$45,750	$40,667	48%
31	KentuckyState	0.55	$28,280	$31,955	41%

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