Psychiatric Technicians in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,523
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$8,617
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,995
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
$49,140
Kept after tax
$40,523
Worth in national money
$35,995
State rank
11
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays psychiatric technicians a middle wage of $49,140, ranking 11 of 49 states and sitting about 8.89% above the national middle.
- Within California this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, psychiatric technicians ranks 373. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $49,140, tax leaves $40,523 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $35,995 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $58,780, since top earners drag the number up.
- California's median for psychiatric technicians is $49,140, about 8.89% above the national figure and 11 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Against every occupation California reports, psychiatric technicians ranks 373 of 492, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After tax, $40,523 remains from the California median of $49,140 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $35,995 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $58,780 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Psychiatric Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,090 |
| This salary | $49,140 |
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 | $40,523 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,664 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,881 |
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 | $47,720 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,321 |
| 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 $49,140. The published range is $40,880 up to $88,090, 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 $40,523, worked from $49,140. 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 373 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,995, the adjusted value of that $49,140 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 373 of 492 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for psychiatric technicians in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,880 to $88,090. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The California take-home of $40,523, on $49,140 for work ranking 373 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 373 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $35,995 — the adjusted value of that $49,140 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 373 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 $58,780, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $40,880, the highest tenth $88,090, 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 $35,995 rather than its face figure.
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 $40,523.
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 49 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 $58,780. 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 ($40,880) and the ninetieth ($88,090) 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 $35,995 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 $40,523 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.