Pharmacy Technicians in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,962
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$10,148
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,937
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
$55,110
Kept after tax
$44,962
Worth in national money
$39,937
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays pharmacy technicians a middle wage of $55,110, ranking 2 of 51 states and sitting about 20.46% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Pharmacy technicians ranks 338 among 492 occupations California publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $55,110, tax leaves $44,962 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $39,937 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $58,330, since top earners drag the number up.
- California's median for pharmacy technicians is $55,110, about 20.46% above the national figure and 2 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.
- Position 338 of 492 in California places pharmacy technicians in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $44,962 remains from the California median of $55,110 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $39,937 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $58,330 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Pharmacy Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,190 |
| This salary | $55,110 |
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 | $44,962 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,461 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,874 |
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 | $53,244 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,523 |
| 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 $55,110. The published range is $42,850 up to $81,190, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In California the take-home figure of $44,962, from $55,110, 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 338 of 492 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $39,937 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 338.
- Reported values are medians; for pharmacy technicians in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $42,850 to $81,190. 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 $44,962 from $55,110. 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 338 of 492 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,937, worked from $55,110, 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 338 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $58,330 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $42,850 at the bottom tenth to $81,190 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $39,937 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, $44,962 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $58,330. 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 ($42,850 to $81,190) 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 $39,937 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 $44,962 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.