Tax Preparers in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,566
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$14,464
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,357
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
$70,030
Kept after tax
$55,566
Worth in national money
$49,357
State rank
2
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for tax preparers is strong here. California's middle earner gets $70,030, putting the state 2 of 48 — about 27.51% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations California reports figures for, this is number 246.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $70,030 the take-home is $55,566; in national-average money that behaves like $49,357. The average comes to $71,540, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For tax preparers, California sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $70,030, ranking 2 of 48 and running about 27.51% 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.
- In California's occupational distribution, tax preparers sits at 246 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 tax preparers in California, on $70,030, is $55,566; deflated by the state's price level, $49,357. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $71,540 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $70,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,000 |
| This salary | $70,030 |
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 | $55,566 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $58,096 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,428 |
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 | $66,442 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,051 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $70,030 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,910 and the ninetieth is $104,000 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $55,566 take-home in California comes from $70,030. 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 246 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $49,357, the adjusted value of that $70,030 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 246 of 492 in the state.
- The California median of $70,030 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,910 to $104,000. 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 $55,566, from $70,030, 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 246 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $49,357 — the adjusted value of that $70,030 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 246 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $38,910 at the bottom tenth to $104,000 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $49,357 — 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 $55,566 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 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($38,910) and the ninetieth ($104,000) 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 $49,357 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 $55,566 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.