Family Medicine Physicians in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$165,157
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$86,853
34.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$146,700
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
$252,010
Kept after tax
$165,157
Worth in national money
$146,700
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California sits in the middle of the pack for family medicine physicians. The median is $252,010, ranking 25 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 492 occupations California reports, family medicine physicians comes in at 3 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $252,010, tax leaves $165,157 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $146,700 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $252,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- California occupies the middle band for family medicine physicians: a median of $252,010, ranking 25 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Family medicine physicians ranks 3 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, $165,157 remains from the California median of $252,010 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $146,700 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $252,930 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Family Medicine Physicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $74,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $252,010 |
| Top tenth earn over | $475,480 |
| This salary | $252,010 |
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 | $165,157 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $184,502 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$43,165 |
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 | $222,543 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$60,556 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $252,010 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $74,510 and the ninetieth is $475,480 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind California's $165,157, worked from $252,010. 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 3 of 492.
- Two cautions on $146,700, the adjusted value of that $252,010 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 3 of 492 locally.
- The California median of $252,010 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $74,510 to $475,480. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The California take-home of $165,157, on $252,010 for work ranking 3 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 3 of 492 in the state.
- This $146,700 adjusted figure, worked from $252,010, 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 3 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 3 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $74,510 at the bottom tenth to $475,480 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $146,700 of national purchasing power.
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 $165,157 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($74,510) and the ninetieth ($475,480) 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 $146,700 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 $165,157 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.