Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,877
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$17,673
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,074
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
$78,550
Kept after tax
$60,877
Worth in national money
$54,074
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays this job a middle wage of $78,550, ranking 6 of 51 states and sitting about 19.91% above the national middle.
- Against other work in California, this sits in the middle: 204 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $78,550, tax leaves $60,877 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $54,074 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $82,320, since top earners drag the number up.
- California's median for mobile heavy equipment mechanics, except engines is $78,550, about 19.91% above the national figure and 6 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Mobile heavy equipment mechanics, except engines ranks 204 of 492 occupations in California by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After tax, $60,877 remains from the California median of $78,550 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $54,074 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $82,320 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,310 |
| This salary | $78,550 |
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 | $60,877 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,090 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,879 |
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 | $73,983 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$15,867 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $78,550 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $47,880 and the ninetieth is $129,310 — 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 $60,877, worked from $78,550. 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 204 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,074 uses one figure for the whole of California. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 204.
- The California median of $78,550 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $47,880 to $129,310. 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 $60,877, on $78,550 for work ranking 204 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 204 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,074, worked from $78,550, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular California address, on work sitting at 204 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $82,320, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $47,880, the highest tenth $129,310, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $54,074 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; California then takes its own share, leaving $60,877.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $82,320. 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 ($47,880) and the ninetieth ($129,310) 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 $54,074 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 $60,877 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.