Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,096
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$6,264
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,397
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
$39,360
Kept after tax
$33,096
Worth in national money
$29,397
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks a middle wage of $39,360, ranking 6 of 51 states and sitting about 12.23% above the national middle.
- Within California this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ranks 463. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $39,360, tax leaves $33,096 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $29,397 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $42,680, since top earners drag the number up.
- California's median for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks is $39,360, about 12.23% 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.
- Against every occupation California reports, hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ranks 463 of 492, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After tax, $33,096 remains from the California median of $39,360 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $29,397 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $42,680 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,020 |
| This salary | $39,360 |
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 | $33,096 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,806 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,391 |
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 | $38,476 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,520 |
| 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 hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks in California earn under $39,360 and half over. The published range runs $35,910 at the tenth percentile to $54,020 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 $33,096, worked from $39,360. 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 463 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $29,397, the adjusted value of that $39,360 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 463 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,910 to $54,020; 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 $33,096, on $39,360 for work ranking 463 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 463 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $29,397 — the adjusted value of that $39,360 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 463 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 $42,680, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,910 at the bottom tenth to $54,020 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $29,397 of national purchasing power.
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 $33,096.
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 $42,680. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,910 to $54,020) 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 $29,397 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 $33,096 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.