Psychiatrists in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$219,911
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$133,589
37.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$195,336
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
$353,500
Kept after tax
$219,911
Worth in national money
$195,336
State rank
1
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California is one of the better-paying states for psychiatrists. The middle earner takes $353,500, which ranks 1 of 46 states with published figures. That is about 25.41% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 492 occupations California reports, psychiatrists comes in at 1 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $353,500 the take-home is $219,911; in national-average money that behaves like $195,336. The average lands at $315,380, below the middle of the range.
- California ranks 1 of 46 states publishing a median for psychiatrists, at $353,500 — about 25.41% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Psychiatrists ranks 1 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 psychiatrists in California, on $353,500, is $219,911; deflated by the state's price level, $195,336. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $315,380 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Psychiatrists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $113,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $353,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $496,230 |
| This salary | $353,500 |
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 | $219,911 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $248,695 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$60,589 |
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 | $307,557 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$93,392 |
| 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 $353,500. The published range is $113,990 up to $496,230, 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 $219,911, worked from $353,500. 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 1 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $195,336, the adjusted value of that $353,500 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 1 of 492 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for psychiatrists in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $113,990 to $496,230. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The California take-home of $219,911, on $353,500 for work ranking 1 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 1 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $195,336 — the adjusted value of that $353,500 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 1 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 $315,380, 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 $113,990, the highest tenth $496,230, 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 $195,336 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, $219,911 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $315,380. 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 ($113,990) and the ninetieth ($496,230) 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 $195,336 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 $219,911 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.