Real Estate Sales Agents in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,783
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$10,777
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,555
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
$57,560
Kept after tax
$46,783
Worth in national money
$41,555
State rank
23
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. California is 23 of 48 states for real estate sales agents, with a middle wage of $57,560. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Real estate sales agents ranks 321 among 492 occupations California publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $57,560, tax leaves $46,783 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $41,555 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $67,570, since top earners drag the number up.
- California ranks 23 of 48 for real estate sales agents at $57,560. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 321 of 492 in California places real estate sales agents 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, $46,783 remains from the California median of $57,560 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $41,555 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $67,570 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Real Estate Sales Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,560 |
| Top tenth earn over | $111,320 |
| This salary | $57,560 |
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 | $46,783 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,429 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,282 |
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 | $55,511 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,016 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $57,560 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,150 and the ninetieth is $111,320 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $46,783 take-home in California comes from $57,560. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 321 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $41,555 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 321.
- The California median of $57,560 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,150 to $111,320. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $46,783, from $57,560, assumes a single California filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 321 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,555, worked from $57,560, 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 321 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 $67,570, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $40,150 and the top tenth $111,320 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $41,555 of national purchasing power.
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 $46,783.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 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 $67,570. 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 ($40,150) and the ninetieth ($111,320) 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 $41,555 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 $46,783 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.