Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
SOC 47-5023 · 2024-2034
Operate a variety of drills such as rotary, churn, and pneumatic to tap subsurface water and salt deposits, to remove core samples during mineral exploration or soil testing, and to facilitate the use of explosives in mining or construction. Includes horizontal and earth boring machine operators.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $68,723per year
- Projected openings
- 1,610
- Projected change
- +5.9%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
Skills this work uses most
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Critical Thinking
- Equipment Maintenance
- Monitoring
- Speaking
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County) | $67,075 | 50 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $64,872 | 150 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $63,349 | 30 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $63,069 | 240 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $62,680 | 290 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County) | Not reported | 140 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $49,249
- A quarter earn under
- $60,465
- Half earn under
- $68,723
- Three quarters earn under
- $81,572
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $94,123
A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.
Similar work
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.
| Occupation | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helpers--Extraction Workers | $53,121 | 1,270 | 0% |
| Continuous Mining Machine Operators | $64,491 | 1,350 | +20% |
| Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators | $89,521 | 33,360 | +7% |