How Does High Network Congestion Affect the Profitability of Smaller-Scale Miners?

High network congestion, characterized by a large mempool and high fees, generally increases the profitability of all miners, including smaller-scale ones, by boosting the fee component of the block reward. However, smaller miners may face higher variance in their rewards due to less consistent block discovery.

They also might have less efficient access to the most lucrative transactions compared to large pools.