Light Truck Drivers in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,768
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$8,022
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,436
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
$46,790
Kept after tax
$38,768
Worth in national money
$34,436
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California is one of the better-paying states for light truck drivers. The middle earner takes $46,790, which ranks 12 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 4.3% above the national middle.
- Against 492 occupations California publishes, light truck drivers lands at 406. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $46,790 the take-home is $38,768. But California costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $34,436 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $53,310, because the best-paid pull it up.
- California ranks 12 of 51 states publishing a median for light truck drivers, at $46,790 — about 4.3% 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.
- Within California, this work ranks 406 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 $38,768 for light truck drivers, from $46,790. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,436. ⚠️ 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 $53,310 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Light Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $93,280 |
| This salary | $46,790 |
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 | $38,768 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,776 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,496 |
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 | $45,536 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,856 |
| 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 light truck drivers in California earn under $46,790 and half over. The published range runs $36,750 at the tenth percentile to $93,280 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 $38,768, worked from $46,790. 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 406 of 492.
- Two cautions on $34,436, the adjusted value of that $46,790 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 406 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for light truck drivers in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,750 to $93,280; 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 $38,768, on $46,790 for work ranking 406 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 406 of 492 in the state.
- This $34,436 adjusted figure, worked from $46,790, 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 406 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 406 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 $53,310, 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 $36,750 and the top tenth $93,280 — 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 $34,436 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 $38,768 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 $53,310. 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 ($36,750) and the ninetieth ($93,280) 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 $34,436 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 $38,768 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.