Best Cities for Underground Mining Machine Operators, All Others

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where underground mining machine operators, all others 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	1.46	$106,840	$102,435	15%
2	MontanaState	1.25	$84,410	$87,562	16%
3	MinnesotaState	1.21	$83,120	$84,816	18%
4	West VirginiaState	1.11	$65,610	$77,922	15%
5	IllinoisState	1.07	$72,800	$74,743	22%
6	UtahState	0.96	$67,200	$67,066	27%
7	NevadaState	0.85	$59,810	$59,691	29%
8	VirginiaState	0.85	$61,990	$59,894	30%
9	PennsylvaniaState	0.80	$54,480	$56,165	29%

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