Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,681
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$16,949
22.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,012
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
$76,630
Kept after tax
$59,681
Worth in national money
$53,012
State rank
9
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 $76,630, ranking 9 of 51 states and sitting about 19.94% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 219 among 492 occupations California publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $76,630, tax leaves $59,681 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $53,012 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $81,340, since top earners drag the number up.
- California's median for telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers is $76,630, about 19.94% above the national figure and 9 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.
- Position 219 of 492 in California places telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers 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.
- After tax, $59,681 remains from the California median of $76,630 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $53,012 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $81,340 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $113,240 |
| This salary | $76,630 |
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 | $59,681 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,739 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,551 |
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 | $72,283 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$15,231 |
| 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 telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers in California earn under $76,630 and half over. The published range runs $56,410 at the tenth percentile to $113,240 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind California's $59,681, worked from $76,630. 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 219 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $53,012 uses one figure for the whole of California. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 219.
- Figures are distribution medians for telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,410 to $113,240; 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.
- The California take-home of $59,681, on $76,630 for work ranking 219 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 219 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $53,012, worked from $76,630, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular California address, on work sitting at 219 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 $81,340, 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 $56,410 and the top tenth $113,240 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $53,012 of national purchasing power.
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 $59,681 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $81,340. 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 ($56,410) and the ninetieth ($113,240) 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 $53,012 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 $59,681 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.