California’s stifling price of dwelling means a six-figure wage might be seen as a necessity.
What sort of job makes these huge bucks? Nicely, in honor of Labor Day weekend, my trusty spreadsheet delved into some curious federal statistics that monitor the pay ladder by occupation.
The report tracks the wages of twenty-two massive slices of the workforce as of Could 2024. Sure, the newest version displays pay patterns from some time in the past. Caveat acknowledged, the figures present a glimpse into pay by occupation.
Notice that the median pay – that’s the quantity between the half who earn extra and the half who earn much less – for all 18 million working Californians was $56,900. By the way in which, that’s the ninth-highest nationally.
However 5 occupations have median wages of $100,000 or extra …
Administration jobs: $138,900 is the mid-point wage amongst this occupation’s 1.34 million staff.
Laptop and mathematical jobs: $136,000 amongst 740,000 staff.
Authorized jobs: $129,300 amongst 155,000 staff.
Healthcare practitioners and technical jobs: $120,000 amongst 952,000 staff.
Structure and engineering jobs: $119,500 amongst 315,000 staff.
Premium pay
Clearly, these aren’t the one locations with six-figure pay. So, ponder occupations with wages of $100,000 or extra on the seventy fifth percentile.
That’s the median of the higher half of the pay scale. Solely 25% make extra.
This isn’t typical compensation. As an alternative, it’s the premium pay typically tied to high-skill jobs, demanding industries, or top-performing staff.
Statewide wages at this lofty threshold are $96,300. That’s the fourth-highest nationally.
California’s six-figure membership grows by 4 occupations on the seventy fifth percentile …
Enterprise and monetary jobs: $128,600 on the seventy fifth percentile amongst 1.25 million staff.
Life, bodily, and social science jobs: $131,300 amongst 208,000 staff.
Arts, design, leisure, sports activities, and media jobs: $110,800 amongst 341,000 staff.
Instructional instruction and library jobs: $101,300 amongst 1.05 million staff.
Famous person salaries
Lastly, ponder California occupations the place wages exceed $100,000 on the ninetieth percentile.
It is a rarity. It’s pay reserved for staff making greater than 90% of their friends. Solely 10% get larger wages. Primarily, the ninetieth percentile represents the compensation for office superstars.
Statewide wages at this sky-high threshold are $157,200. That’s No. 2 among the many 50 states.
The six-figure membership grows by 5 extra occupations on the ninetieth percentile …
Protecting service jobs: $129,400 on the ninetieth percentile among the many occupations’ 435,000 staff statewide.
Building and extraction jobs: $124,900 amongst 679,000 staff.
Group and social service jobs: $122,000 amongst 387,000 staff.
Set up, upkeep, and restore jobs: $105,800 amongst 545,000 staff.
Gross sales jobs: $105,600 amongst 1.44 million staff
The chances
So what are the possibilities a Californian makes six figures?
Add up these slices of the statewide pay grade, and also you see 14 occupations using 9.8 million Californians the place a noteworthy variety of these staff earn greater than $100,000.
These occupations make use of roughly half of the 18.1 million staff statewide. However the odds differ.
Take into account that solely 3.5 million California staff are in occupations the place six-figure compensation is typical. Or 19% incomes $100,000-plus median pay.
And a couple of.8 million are in professions wherein their six-figure wage is premium pay. So odds develop to 35%, together with the seventy fifth percentile.
Then there are 3.5 million toiling in trades the place a $100,000 wage is taken into account celebrity pay. Or 54% of all occupations when the ninetieth percentile is thrown in.
Initially Printed: August 29, 2025 at 7:24 AM PDT
