Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,300
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$8,540
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,796
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
$48,840
Kept after tax
$40,300
Worth in national money
$35,796
State rank
24
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. California pays this job around $48,840 at the midpoint, 24 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 492 occupations California publishes, this job lands at 379. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $48,840 the take-home is $40,300. But California costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $35,796 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $61,840, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall the California median is $48,840, ranking 24 of 48 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 379 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 $40,300 for insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall, from $48,840. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,796. ⚠️ 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 $61,840 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $105,440 |
| This salary | $48,840 |
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 | $40,300 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,423 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,831 |
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 | $47,442 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,261 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,840 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,660 and the ninetieth is $105,440 — 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 $40,300, worked from $48,840. 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 379 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,796, the adjusted value of that $48,840 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 379 of 492 in the state.
- The California median of $48,840 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,660 to $105,440. 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 $40,300, on $48,840 for work ranking 379 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 379 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $35,796 — the adjusted value of that $48,840 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 379 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 $61,840, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $39,660 and the top tenth $105,440 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $35,796 rather than its face figure.
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 $40,300 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 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 $61,840. 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 ($39,660) and the ninetieth ($105,440) 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 $35,796 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 $40,300 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.