Summary

• Median salaries for refinery workers across the country were reported as $60,040 at the time of an occupational wages survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in May 2010. The pay range for refinery employees started at $37,580 in the 10th percentile and rose to $81,360 in the 90th percentile.
  
  

Tapping In

• States along the country's outliers had the highest salaries for refinery workers. Employers in Alaska paid the top annual mean wages of $88,100, far higher than any other state in the nation. The second highest salaries were earned by workers in California, taking in $69,360. Tennessee's refinery employees earned the third highest salaries,at $66,660, followed by those in Kentucky, who made annual mean wages of $65,890. Refineries in Hawaii paid the fifth highest salaries, at $63,760.
  
  

Where to Work

• The petroleum and coal products manufacturing industry was, without surprise, the BLS top employer of refinery workers and paid a slightly higher than the median salary of $63,080. But it wasn't the highest paying industry. The electric power generation, transmission and distribution category paid its refinery workers the highest salaries, $67,230, but employed just a fraction of those workers. The oil and gas extraction industry had the second largest number of workers in the profession and paid the third highest salaries, at $59,770.
  
  

Finding Jobs

• The states with the highest salaries for refinery workers didn't completely correlate with the states with the largest contingent of professionals in the field. Texas was home to the most refinery workers per capita, but paid a below median annual wage of $57,080. Louisiana had the second largest per-capita employment of refinery workers, who earned a slightly higher than average $61,050. California was the third largest employer of refinery workers and placed second on the highest paying list. In fourth place was Oklahoma, but salaries were far below average in the state at $49,560. The BLS fifth place state for highest number of refinery workers, Pennsylvania, also had a below average wage of $55,160.