Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
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.
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $44,460 | $21.37 |
| 25th | $49,900 | $23.99 |
| 50th · Median | $60,190 | $28.94 |
| 75th | $72,450 | $34.83 |
| 90th | $83,800 | $40.29 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Expand more title examples (48)
Typical tasks
- Operate controls to stabilize machines and to position and align drills.
- Start, stop, and control drilling speed of machines and insertion of casings into holes.
- Regulate air pressure, rotary speed, and downward pressure, according to the type of rock or concrete being drilled.
- Select and attach drill bits and drill rods, adding more rods as hole depths increase, and changing drill bits as needed.
- Drive or guide truck-mounted equipment into position, level and stabilize rigs, and extend telescoping derricks.
- Operate machines to flush earth cuttings or to blow dust from holes.
Expand more tasks (23)
- Verify depths and alignments of boring positions.
- Perform routine maintenance and upgrade work on machines and equipment, such as replacing parts, building up drill bits, and lubricating machinery.
- Select the appropriate drill for the job, using knowledge of rock or soil conditions.
- Document geological formations encountered during work.
- Drive trucks, tractors, or truck-mounted drills to and from work sites.
- Assemble and position machines, augers, casing pipes, and other equipment, using hand and power tools.
- Record drilling progress and geological data.
- Retrieve lost equipment from bore holes, using retrieval tools and equipment.
- Fabricate well casings.
- Pour water into wells, or pump water or slush into wells to cool drill bits and to remove drillings.
- Create and lay out designs for drill and blast patterns.
- Place and install screens, casings, pumps, and other well fixtures to develop wells.
- Operate water-well drilling rigs and other equipment to drill, bore, and dig for water wells or for environmental assessment purposes.
- Review client requirements and proposed locations for drilling operations to determine feasibility, and to determine cost estimates.
- Drill or bore holes in rock for blasting, grouting, anchoring, or building foundations.
- Perform pumping tests to assess well performance.
- Disinfect, reconstruct, and redevelop contaminated wells and water pumping systems, and clean and disinfect new wells in preparation for use.
- Design well pumping systems.
- Signal crane operators to move equipment.
- Withdraw drill rods from holes, and extract core samples.
- Inspect core samples to determine nature of strata, or take samples to laboratories for analysis.
- Retract augers to force discharge dirt from holes.
- Monitor drilling operations, by checking gauges and listening to equipment to assess drilling conditions and to determine the need to adjust drilling or alter equipment.
Skills used in this work
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Expand more skills (29)
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
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