Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,750
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$9,040
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,084
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
$50,790
Kept after tax
$41,750
Worth in national money
$37,084
State rank
17
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. California is 17 of 49 states for this job, with a middle wage of $50,790. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in California, this sits in the middle: 360 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 $50,790, tax leaves $41,750 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $37,084 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $53,680, since top earners drag the number up.
- California ranks 17 of 49 for outdoor power equipment and other small engine mechanics at $50,790. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Outdoor power equipment and other small engine mechanics ranks 360 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, $41,750 remains from the California median of $50,790 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $37,084 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $53,680 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,030 |
| This salary | $50,790 |
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 | $41,750 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,990 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,155 |
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 | $49,247 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,654 |
| 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 $50,790. The published range is $36,950 up to $76,030, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind California's $41,750, worked from $50,790. 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 360 of 492.
- Two cautions on $37,084, the adjusted value of that $50,790 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 360 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for outdoor power equipment and other small engine mechanics in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,950 to $76,030. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The California take-home of $41,750, on $50,790 for work ranking 360 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 360 of 492 in the state.
- This $37,084 adjusted figure, worked from $50,790, 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 360 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 360 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 $53,680, 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 $36,950, the highest tenth $76,030, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $37,084 rather than its face figure.
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, $41,750 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $53,680. 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 ($36,950) and the ninetieth ($76,030) 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 $37,084 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 $41,750 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.