Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,504
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$8,266
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,090
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
$47,770
Kept after tax
$39,504
Worth in national money
$35,090
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. California pays this job around $47,770 at the midpoint, 19 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 492 occupations California publishes, this job lands at 385. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $47,770 the take-home is $39,504. But California costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $35,090 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $50,360, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For industrial truck and tractor operators the California median is $47,770, ranking 19 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within California, this work ranks 385 of 492 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and California income tax is $39,504 for industrial truck and tractor operators, from $47,770. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,090. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $50,360 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,330 |
| This salary | $47,770 |
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 | $39,504 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,563 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,653 |
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 | $46,452 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,046 |
| 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 industrial truck and tractor operators in California earn under $47,770 and half over. The published range runs $38,650 at the tenth percentile to $63,330 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 $39,504, worked from $47,770. 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 385 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $35,090 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 385.
- Figures are distribution medians for industrial truck and tractor operators in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,650 to $63,330; 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 $39,504, on $47,770 for work ranking 385 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 385 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,090, worked from $47,770, 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 385 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 $50,360 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $38,650 and the top tenth $63,330, so most people doing this work in California sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $35,090 of national purchasing power.
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, $39,504 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $50,360. 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 ($38,650 to $63,330) 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 $35,090 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 $39,504 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.