Helpers--Extraction Workers Salary and Pay
How much do Helpers--Extraction Workers make?
Helpers--Extraction Workers pay a median of $48,400 a year in the BLS May 2024 survey, with a mean of $50,330 across 6,720 counted jobs. Half of all workers in the occupation earn between $39,980 and $57,560.
One page for the whole Helpers--Extraction Workers pay distribution: national ladder first, then all 29 state rows and the metro rankings, every figure from BLS OEWS May 2024.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Hourly figures use the BLS full-time convention of 2,080 hours a year. The converter loads this occupation's own ladder, median $48,400 first; type any offer into the custom box to price it against the same year.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $35,770 | $17.20 |
| 25th percentile | $39,980 | $19.22 |
| Median (50th) | $48,400 | $23.27 |
| 75th percentile | $57,560 | $27.67 |
| 90th percentile | $68,240 | $32.81 |
A percentile marks a point in this occupation's pay distribution: the worker one quarter of the way up the Helpers--Extraction Workers ladder earns the 25th percentile wage, $39,980. BLS top-codes very high wages ($239,200+ a year, $115.00+ an hour) and marks estimates it cannot publish as n/p.
Employment and concentration
May 2024 employment stood at 6,720, or 0.00% of the U.S. total. Texas leads the state table with 960 jobs; the top three states sum to 25.4% of the occupation. The concentration measure tells the more interesting story: Alaska posts a location quotient of 12.61, so a worker there is far more likely to meet a colleague in this field than the national pattern suggests.
Pay inside the occupation is wide: $32,470 separates the ends of its ladder. The 90th percentile ($68,240) is 1.9 times the 10th percentile ($35,770), a gap of $32,470 a year. The mean of $50,330 sitting above the median of $48,400 tells you the top end pulls the average up: most workers cluster below the mean, and the high tail is thin.
Pay by state
Every state with a publishable estimate is in this table, 29 of them, sorted by jobs. The pay leader by median is West Virginia at $75,270; the jobs leader is Texas:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 960 | 0.1 | 1.59 | $43,640 | $41,050 |
| Arizona | 400 | 0.1 | 2.89 | $55,130 | $52,760 |
| Nevada | 350 | 0.2 | 5.30 | $48,120 | $47,250 |
| West Virginia | 350 | 0.5 | 11.53 | $66,740 | $75,270 |
| Florida | 340 | 0.0 | 0.80 | $40,150 | $38,620 |
| California | 300 | 0.0 | 0.37 | $47,880 | $46,010 |
| New Mexico | 300 | 0.3 | 7.94 | $44,530 | $44,340 |
| Oklahoma | 300 | 0.2 | 4.06 | $44,960 | $57,560 |
| Pennsylvania | 300 | 0.1 | 1.14 | $49,080 | $48,400 |
| Colorado | 260 | 0.1 | 2.04 | $49,090 | $36,550 |
| North Carolina | 260 | 0.1 | 1.24 | $43,840 | $40,570 |
| Kentucky | 220 | 0.1 | 2.59 | $66,160 | $66,320 |
| Utah | 220 | 0.1 | 2.94 | $58,140 | $54,100 |
| Montana | 200 | 0.4 | 9.16 | $49,120 | $46,030 |
| Alaska | 180 | 0.5 | 12.61 | $50,430 | $48,860 |
| Maryland | 160 | 0.1 | 1.37 | $49,380 | $49,930 |
| New York | 150 | 0.0 | 0.35 | $54,120 | $53,360 |
| Virginia | 140 | 0.0 | 0.82 | $62,340 | $65,250 |
| Indiana | 130 | 0.0 | 0.91 | $59,920 | $59,990 |
| Louisiana | 120 | 0.1 | 1.48 | $42,710 | $42,830 |
| South Dakota | 120 | 0.3 | 6.20 | $47,150 | $48,100 |
| Washington | 120 | 0.0 | 0.75 | $49,360 | $44,640 |
| Wyoming | 70 | 0.2 | 5.71 | $66,270 | $55,970 |
| Oregon | 60 | 0.0 | 0.67 | $48,720 | $45,760 |
| Missouri | 50 | 0.0 | 0.38 | $49,460 | $49,230 |
| New Hampshire | 50 | 0.1 | 1.77 | $55,220 | $52,990 |
| Hawaii | 40 | 0.1 | 1.32 | $52,610 | $52,170 |
| Georgia | n/p | n/p | n/p | $47,110 | $51,810 |
| New Jersey | n/p | n/p | n/p | $59,300 | $60,020 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Helpers--Extraction Workers stands number 731 by employment and number 565 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Construction and Extraction Occupations, the group median wage is $54,660 across 60 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 11% less than its group median, and it supplies 0.1% of the group's 6,361,730 jobs. In 16 of the 29 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $48,400, which is the single best quick test of whether this occupation's pay is set nationally or locally: a high count means local markets regularly outbid the national figure.
Metropolitan areas: where the jobs and the pay sit
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ is the largest metro employer with 300 jobs, 4.5% of the national total. Employment rank and pay rank are different lists: the second table re-sorts metros with at least 500 jobs in this occupation by mean pay, the floor keeping a handful of workers from posing as a market.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | 300 | $58,220 | $66,130 |
| Midland, TX | 230 | $45,440 | $46,130 |
| Odessa, TX | 110 | $42,550 | $41,250 |
| Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | 80 | $45,820 | $44,700 |
| Bakersfield-Delano, CA | 60 | $55,740 | $60,560 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 60 | $41,550 | $39,980 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 60 | $52,050 | $52,000 |
| Billings, MT | 40 | $56,050 | $50,740 |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | 40 | $46,090 | $44,330 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 40 | $40,920 | $38,800 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
As a household number, $48,400 a year is $4,033 a month gross, $1,862 every two weeks, $931 a week. Moving from the 25th percentile ($39,980) to the 75th ($57,560) is worth $17,580 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. The next step from a gross figure is a net one: run the $4,033 monthly figure through the paycheck calculator applies your state's taxes, the salary calculator compares two offers in any unit, and the raise vs inflation calculator tells you whether a nominal raise is a real one.
To place a real offer: a salary of $53,240 would sit between the median ($48,400) and the 75th percentile ($57,560), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $39,980, is $8,420 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Construction and Extraction Occupations
Sibling occupations in Construction and Extraction Occupations: Structural Iron and Steel Workers, Helpers--Electricians, Glaziers, Brickmasons and Blockmasons, Hazardous Materials Removal Workers, Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators. Medians there are computed identically, so the comparison is apples to apples; the full set lives on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Helpers--Extraction Workers make?
The median annual wage is $48,400 and the mean is $50,330 in the BLS OEWS May 2024 estimates. The middle half of workers earn between $39,980 and $57,560 a year.
Which state pays Helpers--Extraction Workers the most?
By median annual wage, West Virginia leads the state table at $75,270, based on 350 jobs in that state. By mean wage and by headcount the leaders can differ, so the state table on this page shows all three measures side by side.
How many Helpers--Extraction Workers are there in the United States?
BLS counted 6,720 wage and salary workers in this occupation in May 2024, 0.00% of all U.S. employment in the survey. The largest state employer is Texas with 960 jobs.
What do the OEWS percentiles mean for Helpers--Extraction Workers?
They mark points in this occupation's pay distribution. One worker in ten earns $35,770 or less and one in ten earns $68,240 or more; the median, $48,400, is the wage of the worker exactly in the middle of the 6,720 counted jobs.