Packers and Packagers, Hand in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,492
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$5,768
15.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,973
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
$37,260
Kept after tax
$31,492
Worth in national money
$27,973
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays packers and packagers, hand a middle wage of $37,260, ranking 15 of 51 states and sitting about 2.7% above the national middle.
- Against 492 occupations California publishes, packers and packagers, hand lands at 482. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $37,260, tax leaves $31,492 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $27,973 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $40,010, since top earners drag the number up.
- California's median for packers and packagers, hand is $37,260, about 2.7% above the national figure and 15 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.
- Within California, this work ranks 482 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.
- After tax, $31,492 remains from the California median of $37,260 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $27,973 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $40,010 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Packers and Packagers, Hand
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,330 |
| This salary | $37,260 |
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 | $31,492 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,118 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,079 |
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 | $36,481 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,143 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of packers and packagers, hand in California earn under $37,260 and half over. The published range runs $34,360 at the tenth percentile to $48,330 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,492 take-home in California comes from $37,260. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 482 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $27,973, the adjusted value of that $37,260 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 482 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for packers and packagers, hand in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,360 to $48,330; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $31,492, from $37,260, assumes a single California filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 482 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 15 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $27,973 — the adjusted value of that $37,260 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 482 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 $40,010, 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 — $34,360 at the tenth percentile, $48,330 at the ninetieth.
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 $27,973 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $31,492.
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 $40,010. 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 ($34,360 to $48,330) 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 $27,973 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 $31,492 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.