Travel Agents in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,928
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$9,102
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,243
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
$51,030
Kept after tax
$41,928
Worth in national money
$37,243
State rank
18
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. California pays travel agents around $51,030 at the midpoint, 18 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in California, this sits in the middle: 359 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $51,030, tax leaves $41,928 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $37,243 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $55,120, since top earners drag the number up.
- For travel agents the California median is $51,030, ranking 18 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Travel agents ranks 359 of 492 occupations in California by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After tax, $41,928 remains from the California median of $51,030 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $37,243 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $55,120 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Travel Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,970 |
| This salary | $51,030 |
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 | $41,928 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,183 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,195 |
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 | $49,469 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,702 |
| 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 travel agents in California earn under $51,030 and half over. The published range runs $38,720 at the tenth percentile to $74,970 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 $41,928, worked from $51,030. 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 359 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $37,243, the adjusted value of that $51,030 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 359 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for travel agents in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,720 to $74,970; 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 $41,928, on $51,030 for work ranking 359 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 359 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $37,243 — the adjusted value of that $51,030 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 359 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $55,120, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,720 at the bottom tenth to $74,970 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $37,243 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and California's own levy, $41,928 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $55,120. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,720 to $74,970) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to California rather than a national figure.
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 $37,243 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 $41,928 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.