Order Clerks in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,148
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$8,142
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,773
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
$47,290
Kept after tax
$39,148
Worth in national money
$34,773
State rank
19
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California sits in the middle of the pack for order clerks. The median is $47,290, ranking 19 of 48 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in California, this one sits low: 394 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $47,290 the take-home is $39,148; in national-average money that behaves like $34,773. The average comes to $50,760, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- California occupies the middle band for order clerks: a median of $47,290, ranking 19 of 48. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Order clerks occupies position 394 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.
- Take-home for order clerks in California, on $47,290, is $39,148; deflated by the state's price level, $34,773. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $50,760 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Order Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,580 |
| This salary | $47,290 |
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 | $39,148 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,178 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,573 |
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 | $46,008 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,949 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,290 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,170 and the ninetieth is $66,580 — 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 $39,148, worked from $47,290. 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 394 of 492.
- Two cautions on $34,773, the adjusted value of that $47,290 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 394 of 492 locally.
- The California median of $47,290 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,170 to $66,580. 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 $39,148, on $47,290 for work ranking 394 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 394 of 492 in the state.
- This $34,773 adjusted figure, worked from $47,290, 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 394 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 394 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 $50,760, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,170 at the tenth percentile, $66,580 at the ninetieth.
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 $34,773 of national purchasing power.
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, $39,148 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $50,760. 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 ($37,170 to $66,580) 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 $34,773 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 $39,148 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.