Compensation and Benefits Managers in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$113,812
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$52,918
31.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$101,094
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
$166,730
Kept after tax
$113,812
Worth in national money
$101,094
State rank
6
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. California's middle earner gets $166,730, putting the state 6 of 45 — about 11.73% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 492 occupations California reports, this job comes in at 18 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $166,730 the take-home is $113,812; in national-average money that behaves like $101,094. The average comes to $180,130, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For compensation and benefits managers, California sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $166,730, ranking 6 of 45 and running about 11.73% 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.
- Compensation and benefits managers ranks 18 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.
- Take-home for compensation and benefits managers in California, on $166,730, is $113,812; deflated by the state's price level, $101,094. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $180,130 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: Compensation and Benefits Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $105,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $166,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $289,910 |
| This salary | $166,730 |
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 | $113,812 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $125,226 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$27,773 |
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 | $150,031 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$39,486 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in California earn less than $166,730. The published range is $105,840 up to $289,910, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind California's $113,812, worked from $166,730. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 18 of 492.
- Two cautions on $101,094, the adjusted value of that $166,730 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 18 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for compensation and benefits managers in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $105,840 to $289,910. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The California take-home of $113,812, on $166,730 for work ranking 18 of 492 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 18 of 492 in the state.
- This $101,094 adjusted figure, worked from $166,730, 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 18 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 18 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $180,130 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $105,840 at the bottom tenth to $289,910 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. California costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $101,094 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and California adds its own income tax on top — which is why $113,812 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 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 $180,130. 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 ($105,840) and the ninetieth ($289,910) 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 $101,094 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 $113,812 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.