Massage Therapists in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,142
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$7,828
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,880
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
$45,970
Kept after tax
$38,142
Worth in national money
$33,880
State rank
45
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. California pays massage therapists a middle wage of $45,970, 45 of 50 states and about 21.35% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within California this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, massage therapists ranks 419. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $45,970 the take-home is $38,142; in national-average money that behaves like $33,880. The average comes to $55,630, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- California's $45,970 median for massage therapists places it 45 of 50 states, about 21.35% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation California reports, massage therapists ranks 419 of 492, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Take-home for massage therapists in California, on $45,970, is $38,142; deflated by the state's price level, $33,880. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $55,630 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Massage Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $89,880 |
| This salary | $45,970 |
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 | $38,142 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,117 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,374 |
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 | $44,757 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,709 |
| 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 $45,970. The published range is $34,320 up to $89,880, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In California the take-home figure of $38,142, from $45,970, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 419 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $33,880, the adjusted value of that $45,970 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 419 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for massage therapists in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,320 to $89,880. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for California is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,142 from $45,970. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 419 of 492 locally.
- This $33,880 adjusted figure, worked from $45,970, 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 419 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 419 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 $55,630 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $34,320 at the bottom tenth to $89,880 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $33,880 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 $38,142 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $55,630. 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 ($34,320) and the ninetieth ($89,880) 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 $33,880 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 $38,142 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.