Library Technicians in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,586
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$9,674
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,715
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
$53,260
Kept after tax
$43,586
Worth in national money
$38,715
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California is one of the better-paying states for library technicians. The middle earner takes $53,260, which ranks 4 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 19.47% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations California reports figures for, this is number 349.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $53,260, tax leaves $43,586 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $38,715 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $56,050, since top earners drag the number up.
- California ranks 4 of 51 states publishing a median for library technicians, at $53,260 — about 19.47% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- In California's occupational distribution, library technicians sits at 349 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $43,586 remains from the California median of $53,260 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $38,715 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $56,050 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Library Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,260 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,880 |
| This salary | $53,260 |
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 | $43,586 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,974 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,566 |
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 | $51,532 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,151 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $53,260 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,260 and the ninetieth is $76,880 — 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 $43,586, worked from $53,260. 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 349 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,715, the adjusted value of that $53,260 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 349 of 492 in the state.
- The California median of $53,260 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,260 to $76,880. 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 $43,586, on $53,260 for work ranking 349 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 349 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $38,715 — the adjusted value of that $53,260 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 349 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 $56,050 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $40,260 at the bottom tenth to $76,880 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 $38,715 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 $43,586 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.
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 $56,050. 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 ($40,260 to $76,880) 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 $38,715 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 $43,586 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.