Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,177
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$10,223
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,129
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
$55,400
Kept after tax
$45,177
Worth in national money
$40,129
State rank
5
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays this job a middle wage of $55,400, ranking 5 of 51 states and sitting about 16.53% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations California reports figures for, this is number 336.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $55,400 the take-home is $45,177; in national-average money that behaves like $40,129. The average comes to $57,710, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- California's median for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive is $55,400, about 16.53% above the national figure and 5 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In California's occupational distribution, secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive sits at 336 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Take-home for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive in California, on $55,400, is $45,177; deflated by the state's price level, $40,129. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $57,710 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,170 |
| This salary | $55,400 |
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 | $45,177 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,694 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,923 |
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 | $53,513 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,582 |
| 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 $55,400. The published range is $38,060 up to $78,170, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In California the take-home figure of $45,177, from $55,400, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 336 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $40,129, the adjusted value of that $55,400 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of California. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 336 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,060 to $78,170. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for California is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $45,177 from $55,400. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 336 of 492 locally.
- This $40,129 adjusted figure, worked from $55,400, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 336 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 336 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 $57,710 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 $38,060 at the bottom tenth to $78,170 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 $40,129 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, $45,177 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $57,710. 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 ($38,060) and the ninetieth ($78,170) 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 $40,129 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 $45,177 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.