Sheet Metal Workers in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,656
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$16,934
22.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,990
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
$76,590
Kept after tax
$59,656
Worth in national money
$52,990
State rank
9
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for sheet metal workers is strong here. California's middle earner gets $76,590, putting the state 9 of 50 — about 23.93% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Sheet metal workers ranks 220 among 492 occupations California publishes pay for.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $76,590 the take-home is $59,656; in national-average money that behaves like $52,990. The average comes to $85,580, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For sheet metal workers, California sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $76,590, ranking 9 of 50 and running about 23.93% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 220 of 492 in California places sheet metal workers 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.
- Take-home for sheet metal workers in California, on $76,590, is $59,656; deflated by the state's price level, $52,990. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $85,580 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Sheet Metal Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $132,190 |
| This salary | $76,590 |
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 | $59,656 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,711 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,544 |
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 | $72,248 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$15,218 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of sheet metal workers in California earn under $76,590 and half over. The published range runs $47,410 at the tenth percentile to $132,190 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In California the take-home figure of $59,656, from $76,590, 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 220 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $52,990, the adjusted value of that $76,590 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 220 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for sheet metal workers in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,410 to $132,190; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for California is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $59,656 from $76,590. 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 220 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $52,990 — the adjusted value of that $76,590 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 220 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $85,580, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $47,410 and the top tenth $132,190 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $52,990 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and California adds its own income tax on top — which is why $59,656 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $85,580. 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 ($47,410) and the ninetieth ($132,190) 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 $52,990 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 $59,656 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.