Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA moved from $52,770 in May 2024 to $54,730 in May 2025 (+3.7%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA sits +0.6 pp ahead of that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Fast Food and Counter Workers shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA
Fast Food and Counter Workers publishes $43,400 here versus $31,200 nationally (+39.1%; 3,220metro-area jobs). Next is Cashiers at $37,390 locally versus $32,880 nationally (+13.7%).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$43,400 in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA sits 39.1% above the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (3,220 published local jobs).
- Cashiers$37,390 in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA sits 13.7% above the national Cashiers median of $32,880 (2,530 published local jobs).
- Retail Salespersons$38,620 in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA sits 9.1% above the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (2,430 published local jobs).
- Office Clerks, General$41,040 in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA sits 8.8% below the national Office Clerks, General median of $45,010 (3,360 published local jobs).
Fast Food and Counter Workers and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 42100 · Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA $71K mean
MEAN-MEGA · RPP-ELEV · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MEGA #35/528
- RPP-ELEV 109.9
- OCC-MID 328 occs
- TOP-LEAD General Intern… · $431K
- EMP-MIX Registered N…
- TREND-INLINE +0.6 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Philadelphia-Cam…
- BOOK-FULL 325 rows · May 2025
Read with Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD (+$43 on published-row mean) · Highest-paying careers
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer — not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA
Employment scale inside Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA's top-pay list
Registered Nurses and Software Developers lead published employment inside Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Registered Nurses 1,750 jobs · $170,960
- 2. Software Developers 540 jobs · $156,910
- 3. Financial Managers 400 jobs · $165,800
- 4. Managers, All Other 350 jobs · $170,650
- 5. Lawyers 350 jobs · $164,790
- 6. Computer and Information Systems Managers 260 jobs · $198,770
- 7. Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary 230 jobs · $157,630
- 8. Chief Executives 220 jobs · $209,080
- 9. Physicians, All Other 190 jobs · $305,610
- 10. Nurse Practitioners 190 jobs · $167,190
- 11. Pharmacists 170 jobs · $161,940
- 12. Marketing Managers 150 jobs · $168,980
- 13. Veterinarians 130 jobs · $164,820
- 14. Human Resources Managers 130 jobs · $164,570
- 15. Physician Assistants 120 jobs · $159,030
- 16. Dentists, General 90 jobs · $175,950
- 17. Architectural and Engineering Managers 80 jobs · $206,880
- 18. Natural Sciences Managers 80 jobs · $202,380
Occupations Tracked
328
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$71,339
employment-weighted, 325 complete rows
Top Salary
$430,970
General Internal Medicine Physicians
Cost of Living
109.9
10% above US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $430,970 |
| 2 | Physicians, All Other | $305,610 |
| 3 | Family Medicine Physicians | $291,880 |
| 4 | Chief Executives | $209,080 |
| 5 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $206,880 |
| 6 | Natural Sciences Managers | $202,380 |
| 7 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $198,770 |
| 8 | Electronics Engineers, Except Computer | $182,840 |
| 9 | Fundraising Managers | $179,130 |
| 10 | Dentists, General | $175,950 |
| 11 | First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives | $172,590 |
| 12 | Education Administrators, Postsecondary | $172,410 |
| 13 | Registered Nurses | $170,960 |
| 14 | Managers, All Other | $170,650 |
| 15 | Computer Hardware Engineers | $169,370 |
| 16 | Marketing Managers | $168,980 |
| 17 | Nurse Practitioners | $167,190 |
| 18 | Financial Managers | $165,800 |
| 19 | Veterinarians | $164,820 |
| 20 | Lawyers | $164,790 |
| 21 | Human Resources Managers | $164,570 |
| 22 | Pharmacists | $161,940 |
| 23 | Physician Assistants | $159,030 |
| 24 | Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary | $157,630 |
| 25 | Software Developers | $156,910 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | $34,320 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $35,640 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $35,860 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | $35,930 |
| Material Moving Workers, All Other | $35,960 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $36,050 |
| Bartenders | $36,100 |
| Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse | $36,450 |
| Packers and Packagers, Hand | $36,510 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $37,150 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in CA
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside CA. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($71,339 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Related federal data
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The metro benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.