Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,966
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$5,605
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,505
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
$36,570
Kept after tax
$30,966
Worth in national money
$27,505
State rank
35
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in California. The middle earner gets $36,570. That is 35 of 50 states, and about 4.52% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 492 occupations California publishes, this job lands at 487. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $36,570 the take-home is $30,966. But California costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $27,505 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $38,930, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers, California sits in the lower band at $36,570, ranking 35 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 4.52%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within California, this work ranks 487 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 $30,966 for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers, from $36,570. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $27,505. ⚠️ 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 $38,930 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,040 |
| This salary | $36,570 |
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 | $30,966 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,564 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,977 |
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 | $35,825 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,019 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,570 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $34,950 and the ninetieth is $46,040 — 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 $30,966, worked from $36,570. 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 487 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $27,505, the adjusted value of that $36,570 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 487 of 492 in the state.
- The California median of $36,570 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $34,950 to $46,040. 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 $30,966, on $36,570 for work ranking 487 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 487 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $27,505 — the adjusted value of that $36,570 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 487 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 $38,930 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 $34,950 at the bottom tenth to $46,040 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 $27,505 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and California's own levy, $30,966 remains.
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 $38,930. 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 ($34,950 to $46,040) 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 $27,505 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 $30,966 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.