Cost Estimators in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,095
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$20,365
23.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,821
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
$85,460
Kept after tax
$65,095
Worth in national money
$57,821
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays cost estimators a middle wage of $85,460, ranking 6 of 51 states and sitting about 8.53% above the national middle.
- Against other work in California, this sits in the middle: 169 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $85,460, tax leaves $65,095 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $57,821 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $94,780, since top earners drag the number up.
- California's median for cost estimators is $85,460, about 8.53% above the national figure and 6 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Cost estimators ranks 169 of 492 occupations in California by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After tax, $65,095 remains from the California median of $85,460 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $57,821 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $94,780 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cost Estimators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $85,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $150,790 |
| This salary | $85,460 |
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 | $65,095 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,951 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,135 |
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 | $79,979 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$18,143 |
| 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 cost estimators in California earn under $85,460 and half over. The published range runs $51,750 at the tenth percentile to $150,790 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In California the take-home figure of $65,095, from $85,460, 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 169 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $57,821, the adjusted value of that $85,460 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 169 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for cost estimators in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,750 to $150,790; 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.
- Take-home for California is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $65,095 from $85,460. 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 169 of 492 locally.
- This $57,821 adjusted figure, worked from $85,460, 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 169 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 169 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 $94,780, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $51,750, the highest tenth $150,790, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $57,821 rather than its face figure.
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 $65,095.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $94,780. 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 ($51,750) and the ninetieth ($150,790) 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 $57,821 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 $65,095 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.