Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA moved from $50,240 in May 2024 to $51,690 in May 2025 (+2.9%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA sits -0.2 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education publishes $101,030 here versus $63,970 nationally (+57.9%; 2,170metro-area jobs). Next is Registered Nurses at $137,360 locally versus $97,550 nationally (+40.8%).
- Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education$101,030 in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA sits 57.9% above the national Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education median of $63,970 (2,170 published local jobs).
- Registered Nurses$137,360 in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA sits 40.8% above the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (3,280 published local jobs).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$42,940 in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA sits 37.6% above the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (5,930 published local jobs).
- Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary$46,540 in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA sits 26.5% above the national Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary median of $36,780 (2,360 published local jobs).
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 42200 · Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA $71K mean
MEAN-MEGA · RPP-ELEV · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MEGA #36/528
- RPP-ELEV 108.8
- OCC-MOST 433 occs
- TOP-LEAD Psychiatrists · $333K
- EMP-MIX Software Dev…
- TREND-INLINE -0.2 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Albany-Schenecta…
- BOOK-FULL 428 rows · May 2025
Read with Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY ($82 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 Maria-Santa Barbara
Employment scale inside Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA's top-pay list
Software Developers and Managers, All Other lead published employment inside Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Software Developers 1,680 jobs · $158,290
- 2. Managers, All Other 900 jobs · $167,090
- 3. Financial Managers 760 jobs · $164,270
- 4. Computer and Information Systems Managers 700 jobs · $207,760
- 5. Lawyers 700 jobs · $170,970
- 6. Family Medicine Physicians 440 jobs · $287,230
- 7. Chief Executives 360 jobs · $195,650
- 8. Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary 360 jobs · $159,950
- 9. Architectural and Engineering Managers 340 jobs · $207,900
- 10. Marketing Managers 340 jobs · $170,920
- 11. Pharmacists 290 jobs · $162,520
- 12. Physicians, All Other 280 jobs · $296,960
- 13. Human Resources Managers 210 jobs · $165,160
- 14. Physician Assistants 210 jobs · $158,360
- 15. Nurse Practitioners 200 jobs · $165,580
- 16. Education Administrators, Postsecondary 150 jobs · $153,950
- 17. Dentists, General 140 jobs · $170,940
- 18. Veterinarians 140 jobs · $158,840
Occupations Tracked
433
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$71,238
employment-weighted, 428 complete rows
Top Salary
$333,300
Psychiatrists
Cost of Living
108.8
9% above US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Psychiatrists | $333,300 |
| 2 | Physicians, All Other | $296,960 |
| 3 | Family Medicine Physicians | $287,230 |
| 4 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $207,900 |
| 5 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $207,760 |
| 6 | Economics Teachers, Postsecondary | $202,030 |
| 7 | Chief Executives | $195,650 |
| 8 | Natural Sciences Managers | $175,400 |
| 9 | Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary | $173,640 |
| 10 | Computer and Information Research Scientists | $171,880 |
| 11 | Lawyers | $170,970 |
| 12 | Dentists, General | $170,940 |
| 13 | Marketing Managers | $170,920 |
| 14 | Managers, All Other | $167,090 |
| 15 | Nurse Practitioners | $165,580 |
| 16 | Human Resources Managers | $165,160 |
| 17 | Financial Managers | $164,270 |
| 18 | Pharmacists | $162,520 |
| 19 | First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives | $161,440 |
| 20 | Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary | $159,950 |
| 21 | Database Architects | $159,240 |
| 22 | Veterinarians | $158,840 |
| 23 | Physician Assistants | $158,360 |
| 24 | Software Developers | $158,290 |
| 25 | Education Administrators, Postsecondary | $153,950 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | $34,320 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $35,110 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $35,130 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $35,210 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | $35,260 |
| Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products | $35,420 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $35,620 |
| Material Moving Workers, All Other | $35,780 |
| Bartenders | $35,810 |
| Baggage Porters and Bellhops | $35,820 |
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 ($71,238 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Similar employment scale
Nearest headcount peers (floor 100,000 summed published jobs), distinct from the mean-wage column.
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.