Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,025
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$11,205
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,658
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
$59,230
Kept after tax
$48,025
Worth in national money
$42,658
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. California's middle earner gets $59,230, putting the state 4 of 51 — about 16.89% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 304 among 492 occupations California publishes pay for.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $59,230 the take-home is $48,025; in national-average money that behaves like $42,658. The average comes to $60,830, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, California sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $59,230, ranking 4 of 51 and running about 16.89% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 304 of 492 in California places bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks 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 bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in California, on $59,230, is $48,025; deflated by the state's price level, $42,658. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $60,830 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: Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,990 |
| This salary | $59,230 |
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 | $48,025 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,771 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,560 |
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 | $57,057 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,353 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in California earn under $59,230 and half over. The published range runs $41,600 at the tenth percentile to $81,990 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $48,025 take-home in California comes from $59,230. 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 304 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,658, the adjusted value of that $59,230 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 304 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $41,600 to $81,990; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $48,025, from $59,230, 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 304 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $42,658 — the adjusted value of that $59,230 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 304 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $41,600 at the tenth percentile, $81,990 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $42,658 of national purchasing power.
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, $48,025 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($41,600 to $81,990) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to California rather than a national figure.
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 $42,658 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 $48,025 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.