Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,364
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$7,896
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,077
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
$46,260
Kept after tax
$38,364
Worth in national money
$34,077
State rank
4
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 $46,260, ranking 4 of 51 states and sitting about 21.26% above the national middle.
- Against 492 occupations California publishes, this job lands at 414. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $46,260 the take-home is $38,364; in national-average money that behaves like $34,077. The average comes to $47,250, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- California's median for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers is $46,260, about 21.26% above the national figure and 4 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.
- Within California, this work ranks 414 of 492 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Take-home for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in California, on $46,260, is $38,364; deflated by the state's price level, $34,077. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $47,250 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,940 |
| This salary | $46,260 |
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 | $38,364 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,350 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,417 |
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 | $45,033 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,761 |
| 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 veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in California earn under $46,260 and half over. The published range runs $37,800 at the tenth percentile to $57,940 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $38,364 take-home in California comes from $46,260. 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 414 of 492.
- Two cautions on $34,077, the adjusted value of that $46,260 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 414 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,800 to $57,940; 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 $38,364, from $46,260, 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 414 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 51 for it.
- This $34,077 adjusted figure, worked from $46,260, 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 414 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 414 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,800 at the tenth percentile, $57,940 at the ninetieth.
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 $34,077 rather than its face figure.
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 $38,364 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,800 to $57,940) 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 $34,077 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 $38,364 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.