Atmospheric and Space Scientists in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$89,123
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$35,797
28.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$79,164
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
$124,920
Kept after tax
$89,123
Worth in national money
$79,164
State rank
2
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays atmospheric and space scientists a middle wage of $124,920, ranking 2 of 47 states and sitting about 26.09% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 492 occupations California reports, atmospheric and space scientists comes in at 77 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $124,920, tax leaves $89,123 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $79,164 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $127,330, since top earners drag the number up.
- California's median for atmospheric and space scientists is $124,920, about 26.09% above the national figure and 2 of 47 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Atmospheric and space scientists ranks 77 of 492 occupations by median in California, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After tax, $89,123 remains from the California median of $124,920 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $79,164 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $127,330 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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: Atmospheric and Space Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $82,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $124,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $175,900 |
| This salary | $124,920 |
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 | $89,123 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $96,649 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$20,295 |
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 | $114,134 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$28,122 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $124,920 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $82,900 and the ninetieth is $175,900 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In California the take-home figure of $89,123, from $124,920, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 77 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $79,164, the adjusted value of that $124,920 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of California. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 77 of 492 locally.
- The California median of $124,920 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $82,900 to $175,900. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for California is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $89,123 from $124,920. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 77 of 492 locally.
- This $79,164 adjusted figure, worked from $124,920, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 77 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 77 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $82,900, the highest tenth $175,900, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $79,164 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; California then takes its own share, leaving $89,123.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($82,900) and the ninetieth ($175,900) 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 $79,164 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 $89,123 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.