Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,661
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$7,059
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,676
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
$42,720
Kept after tax
$35,661
Worth in national money
$31,676
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $42,720, which ranks 3 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 27.22% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in California, this one sits low: 448 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $42,720, tax leaves $35,661 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $31,676 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $44,380, since top earners drag the number up.
- California ranks 3 of 51 states publishing a median for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers, at $42,720 — about 27.22% 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.
- Lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers occupies position 448 of 492 in California's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After tax, $35,661 remains from the California median of $42,720 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $31,676 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $44,380 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,620 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,710 |
| This salary | $42,720 |
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 | $35,661 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,506 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,891 |
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 | $41,669 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,124 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in California earn less than $42,720. The published range is $34,620 up to $58,710, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $35,661 take-home in California comes from $42,720. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 448 of 492.
- Two cautions on $31,676, the adjusted value of that $42,720 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 448 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,620 to $58,710. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $35,661, from $42,720, assumes a single California filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 448 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 51 for it.
- This $31,676 adjusted figure, worked from $42,720, 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 448 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 448 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 $44,380 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 $34,620 at the bottom tenth to $58,710 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in California run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $31,676 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $35,661 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 $44,380. 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 ($34,620 to $58,710) 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 $31,676 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 $35,661 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.