Architectural and Civil Drafters in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,613
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$16,907
22.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,951
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$76,520
Kept after tax
$59,613
Worth in national money
$52,951
State rank
3
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $76,520, which ranks 3 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 15.68% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 221 among 492 occupations California publishes pay for.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $76,520 the take-home is $59,613; in national-average money that behaves like $52,951. The average comes to $80,360, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- California ranks 3 of 50 states publishing a median for architectural and civil drafters, at $76,520 — about 15.68% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 221 of 492 in California places architectural and civil drafters in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Take-home for architectural and civil drafters in California, on $76,520, is $59,613; deflated by the state's price level, $52,951. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $80,360 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Architectural and Civil Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $114,600 |
| This salary | $76,520 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in California | $59,613 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,662 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,533 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $72,186 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$15,195 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $76,520 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,850 and the ninetieth is $114,600 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $59,613 take-home in California comes from $76,520. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 221 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $52,951 uses one figure for the whole of California. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 221.
- The California median of $76,520 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,850 to $114,600. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $59,613, from $76,520, assumes a single California filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 221 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $52,951, worked from $76,520, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular California address, on work sitting at 221 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $80,360, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $49,850 and the top tenth $114,600 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in California run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $52,951 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and California's own levy, $59,613 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in California is $80,360. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($49,850) and the ninetieth ($114,600) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $52,951 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $59,613 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.