Physicians, All Other in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$181,547
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$100,043
35.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$161,259
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
$281,590
Kept after tax
$181,547
Worth in national money
$161,259
State rank
26
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California sits in the middle of the pack for physicians, all other. The median is $281,590, ranking 26 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 492 occupations California reports, physicians, all other comes in at 2 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $281,590 the take-home is $181,547; in national-average money that behaves like $161,259. The average lands at $249,620, below the middle of the range.
- California occupies the middle band for physicians, all other: a median of $281,590, ranking 26 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Physicians, all other ranks 2 of 492 occupations by median in California, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Take-home for physicians, all other in California, on $281,590, is $181,547; deflated by the state's price level, $161,259. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $249,620 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physicians, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $80,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $281,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $431,980 |
| This salary | $281,590 |
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 | $181,547 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $203,643 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$48,304 |
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 | $247,510 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$71,031 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $281,590 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $80,590 and the ninetieth is $431,980 — 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 $181,547, worked from $281,590. 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 2 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $161,259, the adjusted value of that $281,590 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 2 of 492 in the state.
- The California median of $281,590 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $80,590 to $431,980. 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 $181,547, on $281,590 for work ranking 2 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 2 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $161,259 — the adjusted value of that $281,590 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 2 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 $249,620 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $80,590 at the bottom tenth to $431,980 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $161,259 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, $181,547 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $249,620. 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 ($80,590) and the ninetieth ($431,980) 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 $161,259 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 $181,547 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.