Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,820
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$13,410
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,806
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
$67,230
Kept after tax
$53,820
Worth in national money
$47,806
State rank
7
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. California's middle earner gets $67,230, putting the state 7 of 47 — about 14.63% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 251 among 492 occupations California publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $67,230, tax leaves $53,820 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $47,806 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $76,950, since top earners drag the number up.
- For title examiners, abstractors, and searchers, California sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $67,230, ranking 7 of 47 and running about 14.63% 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 251 of 492 in California places title examiners, abstractors, and searchers 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, $53,820 remains from the California median of $67,230 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $47,806 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $76,950 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $115,040 |
| This salary | $67,230 |
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 | $53,820 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,126 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,952 |
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 | $64,269 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,127 |
| 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 title examiners, abstractors, and searchers in California earn under $67,230 and half over. The published range runs $51,500 at the tenth percentile to $115,040 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $53,820 take-home in California comes from $67,230. 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 251 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $47,806 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 251.
- Figures are distribution medians for title examiners, abstractors, and searchers in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,500 to $115,040; 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.
- Retained pay of $53,820, from $67,230, 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 251 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 47 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $47,806, worked from $67,230, 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 251 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 $76,950, 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 $51,500 and the top tenth $115,040 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $47,806 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; California then takes its own share, leaving $53,820.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 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 $76,950. 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 ($51,500) and the ninetieth ($115,040) 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 $47,806 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 $53,820 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.