Jobs and pay in California

The highest-paying occupations in California

Sorted by median annual wage — the midpoint of what people in the occupation are paid in this state, not what a newcomer earns. Occupations BLS did not release a wage for are absent rather than shown as zero.

1. Ophthalmologists, except pediatric$400,150
2. Neurologists$357,080
3. Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers$353,900
4. Psychiatrists$353,500
5. General internal medicine physicians$313,890
6. Obstetricians and gynecologists$301,240
7. Nurse anesthetists$292,410
8. Physicians, all other$281,590
9. Radiologists$270,560
10. Orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric$253,430
11. Family medicine physicians$252,010
12. Dentists, all other specialists$230,730
13. Chief executives$218,600
14. Computer and information systems managers$218,290
15. Pediatricians, general$214,140
16. Architectural and engineering managers$210,280
17. Natural sciences managers$210,230
18. Physicists$207,490
19. Nurse midwives$203,840
20. Podiatrists$201,300
21. Lawyers$195,080
22. Marketing managers$193,620
23. Physicians, pathologists$186,300
24. Cardiologists$185,610
25. Computer hardware engineers$185,180

Where the jobs actually are in California

The same list sorted by how many people are employed in each occupation, which is a different question from what it pays and usually a more useful one. High pay in an occupation employing 400 people statewide is a narrower opportunity than it looks.

1. Home health and personal care aides970,150 employed
2. Fast food and counter workers449,840 employed
3. Retail salespersons376,460 employed
4. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand355,500 employed
5. Registered nurses338,940 employed
6. Cashiers336,110 employed
7. Office clerks, general311,490 employed
8. Stockers and order fillers310,870 employed
9. General and operations managers300,840 employed
10. Software developers284,390 employed
11. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners234,240 employed
12. Waiters and waitresses229,970 employed
13. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers205,090 employed
14. Security guards199,480 employed
15. Teaching assistants, except postsecondary177,140 employed
16. Customer service representatives176,850 employed
17. Accountants and auditors175,360 employed
18. Farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse172,260 employed
19. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive158,630 employed
20. Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel156,110 employed
21. Elementary school teachers, except special education155,160 employed
22. Business operations specialists, all other155,000 employed
23. Cooks, restaurant152,250 employed
24. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks151,870 employed
25. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers149,230 employed

The best-paid California work that typically needs no bachelor's degree

Occupations BLS reports as typically entered with an associate's degree, a postsecondary certificate, some college, a high-school diploma, or no formal credential — sorted by what they pay here. Typical is not a requirement, individual employers set their own, and many of these carry state licensing that the national figure does not capture.

1. Radiation therapists$166,450 · Associate's degree
2. Commercial pilots$165,590 · Postsecondary nondegree award
3. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$163,960 · High school diploma or equivalent
4. Nuclear medicine technologists$162,380 · Associate's degree
5. Air traffic controllers$160,080 · Associate's degree
6. Elevator and escalator installers and repairers$141,180 · High school diploma or equivalent
7. Makeup artists, theatrical and performance$140,870 · Postsecondary nondegree award
8. Power distributors and dispatchers$137,570 · High school diploma or equivalent
9. First-line supervisors of correctional officers$131,210 · High school diploma or equivalent
10. Gas plant operators$130,220 · High school diploma or equivalent
11. Electrical power-line installers and repairers$129,040 · High school diploma or equivalent
12. Diagnostic medical sonographers$128,530 · Associate's degree
13. First-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers$127,630 · Postsecondary nondegree award
14. Dental hygienists$124,930 · Associate's degree
15. Detectives and criminal investigators$124,840 · High school diploma or equivalent
16. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$124,000 · Associate's degree
17. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$123,780 · High school diploma or equivalent
18. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay$121,520 · Postsecondary nondegree award
19. Radiologic technologists and technicians$121,260 · Associate's degree
20. Insulation workers, mechanical$119,690 · High school diploma or equivalent
21. Police and sheriff's patrol officers$118,880 · High school diploma or equivalent
22. Boilermakers$118,150 · High school diploma or equivalent
23. Court reporters and simultaneous captioners$116,020 · Postsecondary nondegree award
24. Pile driver operators$110,340 · High school diploma or equivalent
25. Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels$110,090 · Postsecondary nondegree award

A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one. CampusPin publishes the national picture of pay by entry education and which fields are actually awarded as certificates rather than degrees.

What California does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of California employment divided by its share of U.S. employment. 2.0 means twice as concentrated here as nationally. It describes where the work IS — not what it pays, and not how easy it is to be hired. Limited to occupations employing at least 500 people in the state, so a tiny base cannot manufacture a large ratio.

Farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

Other states