Recreational Therapists in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$72,855
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$25,315
25.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,713
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
$98,170
Kept after tax
$72,855
Worth in national money
$64,713
State rank
1
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays recreational therapists a middle wage of $98,170, ranking 1 of 48 states and sitting about 58.44% above the national middle.
- Against other work in California, this sits in the middle: 135 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $98,170 the take-home is $72,855; in national-average money that behaves like $64,713. The average lands at $95,420, below the middle of the range.
- California's median for recreational therapists is $98,170, about 58.44% above the national figure and 1 of 48 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Recreational therapists ranks 135 of 492 occupations in California by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Take-home for recreational therapists in California, on $98,170, is $72,855; deflated by the state's price level, $64,713. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $95,420 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Recreational Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,940 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $98,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $115,370 |
| This salary | $98,170 |
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 | $72,855 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $77,893 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,444 |
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 | $91,009 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$21,333 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $98,170 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $60,940 and the ninetieth is $115,370 — 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 $72,855, worked from $98,170. 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 135 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $64,713, the adjusted value of that $98,170 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 135 of 492 in the state.
- The California median of $98,170 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $60,940 to $115,370. 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 $72,855, on $98,170 for work ranking 135 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 135 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $64,713 — the adjusted value of that $98,170 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 135 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $60,940 at the tenth percentile, $115,370 at the ninetieth.
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 $64,713 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 $72,855.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($60,940 to $115,370) 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 $64,713 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 $72,855 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.