Surveyors in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$77,226
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$28,104
26.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,596
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
$105,330
Kept after tax
$77,226
Worth in national money
$68,596
State rank
1
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California is one of the better-paying states for surveyors. The middle earner takes $105,330, which ranks 1 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 39.62% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 492 occupations California reports, surveyors comes in at 111 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $105,330, tax leaves $77,226 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $68,596 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $110,220, since top earners drag the number up.
- California ranks 1 of 50 states publishing a median for surveyors, at $105,330 — about 39.62% 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.
- Surveyors ranks 111 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.
- After tax, $77,226 remains from the California median of $105,330 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $68,596 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $110,220 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Surveyors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $105,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $160,430 |
| This salary | $105,330 |
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 | $77,226 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $82,930 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$16,745 |
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 | $97,222 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$23,129 |
| 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 $105,330. The published range is $59,310 up to $160,430, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $77,226 take-home in California comes from $105,330. 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 111 of 492.
- Two cautions on $68,596, the adjusted value of that $105,330 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 111 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for surveyors in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $59,310 to $160,430. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $77,226, from $105,330, 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 111 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 1 of 50 for it.
- This $68,596 adjusted figure, worked from $105,330, 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 111 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 111 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 $110,220, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $59,310, the highest tenth $160,430, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in California run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $68,596 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $77,226 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $110,220. 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 ($59,310) and the ninetieth ($160,430) 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 $68,596 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 $77,226 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.