Emergency Management Directors in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$92,070
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$37,840
29.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$81,781
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
$129,910
Kept after tax
$92,070
Worth in national money
$81,781
State rank
4
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. California's middle earner gets $129,910, putting the state 4 of 47 — about 39.19% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 492 occupations California reports, this job comes in at 60 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $129,910, tax leaves $92,070 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $81,781 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $138,120, since top earners drag the number up.
- For emergency management directors, California sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $129,910, ranking 4 of 47 and running about 39.19% 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.
- Emergency management directors ranks 60 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, $92,070 remains from the California median of $129,910 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $81,781 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $138,120 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Emergency Management Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $90,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $129,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $199,020 |
| This salary | $129,910 |
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 | $92,070 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $100,059 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$21,187 |
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 | $118,322 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$29,497 |
| 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 emergency management directors in California earn under $129,910 and half over. The published range runs $90,130 at the tenth percentile to $199,020 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind California's $92,070, worked from $129,910. 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 60 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $81,781 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 60.
- Figures are distribution medians for emergency management directors in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $90,130 to $199,020; 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.
- The California take-home of $92,070, on $129,910 for work ranking 60 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 60 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $81,781, worked from $129,910, 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 60 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $138,120, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $90,130 at the bottom tenth to $199,020 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 $81,781 rather than its face figure.
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, $92,070 remains.
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.
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 $138,120. 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 ($90,130) and the ninetieth ($199,020) 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 $81,781 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 $92,070 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.