Pest Control Workers in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,073
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$8,117
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,707
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
$47,190
Kept after tax
$39,073
Worth in national money
$34,707
State rank
13
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for pest control workers is strong here. California's middle earner gets $47,190, putting the state 13 of 50 — about 4.29% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in California, this one sits low: 396 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $47,190, tax leaves $39,073 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $34,707 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $50,360, since top earners drag the number up.
- For pest control workers, California sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $47,190, ranking 13 of 50 and running about 4.29% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Pest control workers occupies position 396 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.
- After tax, $39,073 remains from the California median of $47,190 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $34,707 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $50,360 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Pest Control Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,580 |
| This salary | $47,190 |
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 | $39,073 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,097 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,556 |
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 | $45,916 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,929 |
| 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 $47,190. The published range is $37,110 up to $65,580, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In California the take-home figure of $39,073, from $47,190, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 396 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $34,707, the adjusted value of that $47,190 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 396 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for pest control workers in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,110 to $65,580. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for California is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $39,073 from $47,190. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 396 of 492 locally.
- This $34,707 adjusted figure, worked from $47,190, 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 396 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 396 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $50,360, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,110 at the bottom tenth to $65,580 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $34,707 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, $39,073 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 $50,360. 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 ($37,110 to $65,580) 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 $34,707 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 $39,073 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.