Highest Paying Jobs in California

Top 100 occupations ranked by median annual salary, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025

Highest Salary

$400,150

Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric

Top 25 Average

$251,618

median salary

$100K+ Jobs

100

occupations

Occupations

100

with wage data

This ranking surfaces the 100 highest-paying occupations in California by BLS OEWS state median salary, drawn from the May 2025 release. At the top, Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric pays a state median of $400,150, +33% above the national median of $300,080 for the same role. Of the 100 tracked positions, 100 pay above $100,000 per year in California - a useful threshold for separating specialist professional roles from mid-tier employment. The top-10 average sits at $317,775, giving a sense of what elite specialists inside this state actually clear.

The "Difference" column compares each state median to the corresponding national median for the same SOC code, making pay premiums and discounts immediately visible. In this list, 90 of 100 occupations pay above the national median in California, which usually signals one of three things: a local concentration of specialized employers (finance hubs, tech clusters, research universities, federal agencies), a cost-of-living adjustment baked into state-wide wage scales, or scarce in-state talent supply bidding up competitive roles. Occupations paying below the national median are not necessarily bad news, they often reflect lower cost of living in the state or industries where California is not a concentrated employer.

Rankings like this show ceiling-potential by specialty, but they don't tell you the odds of landing one of those roles. Pair this table with the employment column (how many workers the state actually employs in each occupation) and the growth projections on each occupation's national page to see whether the field is expanding or contracting. BLS wages exclude benefits, bonuses, and overtime, especially distorting for top-paying roles where equity and performance compensation can represent 30-50% of total pay. Use this leaderboard to shortlist careers worth exploring in California, then drill into each row's linked profile to check percentile spread, typical education, metro-level variation, and whether projected openings match your timeline.

#	Occupation	State Median	National	Difference	Employment
1	Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$400,150	$300,080	+33% above	820
2	Neurologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$357,080	$248,560	+44% above	1,090
3	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	$353,900	$232,140	+52% above	10,670
4	Psychiatrists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$353,500	$281,870	+25% above	5,420
5	General Internal Medicine Physicians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$313,890	$256,560	+22% above	6,370
6	Obstetricians and Gynecologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$301,240	$292,910	+3% above	1,610
7	Nurse Anesthetists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$292,410	$236,590	+24% above	2,230
8	Physicians, All Other Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$281,590	$265,930	+6% above	25,530
9	Radiologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$270,560	$420,860	36% below	690
10	Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$253,430	$358,550	29% below	N/A
11	Family Medicine Physicians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$252,010	$244,180	+3% above	N/A
12	Dentists, All Other Specialists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$230,730	$224,990	+3% above	340
13	Chief Executives Management Occupations	$218,600	$213,990	+2% above	34,700
14	Computer and Information Systems Managers Management Occupations	$218,290	$175,140	+25% above	94,720
15	Pediatricians, General Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$214,140	$210,040	+2% above	6,680
16	Architectural and Engineering Managers Management Occupations	$210,280	$171,270	+23% above	29,630
17	Natural Sciences Managers Management Occupations	$210,230	$167,220	+26% above	14,950
18	Physicists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$207,490	$172,250	+20% above	5,930
19	Nurse Midwives Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$203,840	$134,040	+52% above	870
20	Podiatrists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$201,300	$160,300	+26% above	1,000
21	Lawyers Legal Occupations	$195,080	$159,670	+22% above	95,770
22	Marketing Managers Management Occupations	$193,620	$166,790	+16% above	54,660
23	Physicians, Pathologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$186,300	$312,400	40% below	1,790
24	Cardiologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$185,610	$496,010	63% below	630
25	Computer Hardware Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$185,180	$161,740	+14% above	19,820
26	Financial Managers Management Occupations	$180,770	$166,570	+9% above	93,310
27	Mathematical Science Occupations, All Other Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$180,500	$81,490	+121% above	120
28	Materials Scientists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$177,030	$117,790	+50% above	1,030
29	Managers, All Other Management Occupations	$174,560	$141,900	+23% above	99,580
30	Software Developers Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$174,410	$135,980	+28% above	284,390
31	Nuclear Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$172,400	$133,970	+29% above	1,070
32	Database Architects Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$170,160	$139,500	+22% above	6,210
33	Human Resources Managers Management Occupations	$170,080	$149,280	+14% above	27,450
34	Nurse Practitioners Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$168,520	$132,300	+27% above	25,120
35	Public Relations Managers Management Occupations	$167,980	$146,910	+14% above	9,400
36	Advertising and Promotions Managers Management Occupations	$167,230	$133,660	+25% above	3,080
37	Compensation and Benefits Managers Management Occupations	$166,730	$149,230	+12% above	2,970
38	Radiation Therapists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$166,450	$105,310	+58% above	1,720
39	Dentists, General Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$165,950	$170,950	3% below	16,770
40	Physician Assistants Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$165,650	$135,880	+22% above	13,600
41	Commercial Pilots Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	$165,590	$123,220	+34% above	4,900
42	Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$165,110	$107,310	+54% above	17,350
43	Pharmacists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$164,610	$140,910	+17% above	34,030
44	First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives Protective Service Occupations	$163,960	$106,040	+55% above	13,200
45	Veterinarians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$163,920	$130,100	+26% above	9,170
46	Nuclear Medicine Technologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$162,380	$101,370	+60% above	1,500
47	Electronics Engineers, Except Computer Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$160,520	$130,220	+23% above	20,830
48	Air Traffic Controllers Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	$160,080	$148,080	+8% above	2,290
49	Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary Management Occupations	$159,950	$105,870	+51% above	31,370
50	Purchasing Managers Management Occupations	$159,830	$148,080	+8% above	7,470
51	Computer and Information Research Scientists Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$159,100	$140,300	+13% above	8,440
52	Computer Network Architects Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$158,870	$134,050	+19% above	14,870
53	Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$158,130	$106,220	+49% above	520
54	Aerospace Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$157,620	$134,960	+17% above	9,170
55	Psychologists, All Other Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$157,540	$110,840	+42% above	1,600
56	Training and Development Managers Management Occupations	$156,260	$133,000	+17% above	6,680
57	Geography Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$146,040	$97,590	+50% above	280
58	Electrical Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$144,040	$120,630	+19% above	24,230
59	Petroleum Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$143,590	$144,910	1% below	1,060
60	Data Scientists Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$141,590	$120,230	+18% above	39,310
61	Medical and Health Services Managers Management Occupations	$141,480	$123,860	+14% above	75,090
62	Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers Construction and Extraction Occupations	$141,180	$109,910	+28% above	1,910
63	Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance Personal Care and Service Occupations	$140,870	$97,150	+45% above	830
64	Medical Dosimetrists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$140,380	$147,470	5% below	240
65	Registered Nurses Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$140,270	$97,550	+44% above	338,940
66	Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$139,720	$76,590	+82% above	1,460
67	Biochemists and Biophysicists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$139,580	$127,410	+10% above	3,240
68	Physics Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$139,420	$100,310	+39% above	1,130
69	Sales Engineers Sales and Related Occupations	$139,160	$124,900	+11% above	6,310
70	Information Security Analysts Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$138,570	$129,180	+7% above	15,570
71	Art Directors Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations	$137,780	$114,850	+20% above	12,430
72	Genetic Counselors Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$137,650	$100,040	+38% above	440
73	Power Distributors and Dispatchers Production Occupations	$137,570	$106,730	+29% above	670
74	Economics Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$137,360	$123,920	+11% above	770
75	Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$137,280	$109,270	+26% above	2,720
76	Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$136,990	$103,410	+32% above	29,830
77	Optometrists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$136,300	$136,570	same as	6,890
78	Web and Digital Interface Designers Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$136,110	$104,000	+31% above	27,090
79	Statisticians Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$135,960	$105,650	+29% above	2,480
80	Fundraising Managers Management Occupations	$135,870	$125,470	+8% above	5,430
81	Communications Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$135,000	$78,580	+72% above	3,140
82	Sales Managers Management Occupations	$134,910	$148,270	9% below	112,440
83	Computer Occupations, All Other Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$134,440	$116,580	+15% above	80,150
84	Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$133,230	$103,170	+29% above	1,410
85	Construction Managers Management Occupations	$133,160	$114,990	+16% above	34,750
86	Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$132,960	$93,250	+43% above	1,650
87	Social Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary, All Other Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$132,920	$72,990	+82% above	2,760
88	Industrial Production Managers Management Occupations	$132,620	$126,060	+5% above	25,130
89	Surgeons, All Other Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$131,990	$414,010	68% below	N/A
90	Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$131,540	$115,160	+14% above	2,470
91	First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers Protective Service Occupations	$131,210	$77,970	+68% above	4,550
92	Mechanical Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$130,900	$104,110	+26% above	30,530
93	Engineers, All Other Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$130,850	$122,930	+6% above	28,610
94	Mathematical Science Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$130,680	$79,940	+63% above	3,810
95	Physical Scientists, All Other Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$130,610	$122,570	+7% above	2,320
96	Special Effects Artists and Animators Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations	$130,540	$102,030	+28% above	7,410
97	Actuaries Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$130,510	$130,000	same as	1,280
98	English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$130,490	$78,760	+66% above	5,460
99	Environmental Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$130,410	$107,110	+22% above	4,550
100	Personal Financial Advisors Business and Financial Operations Occupations	$130,330	$105,070	+24% above	32,200

More ways to explore California pay and compare with national data.

California Overview

Full state salary data

Fastest Growing in California

Top 50 by growth rate

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Highest paying jobs nationwide

Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric

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About This Data

All salary data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. State-level data reflects wages for workers employed in California. The "Difference" column shows how California pay compares to the national median for that occupation.

Every figure on WageDex is rendered directly from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, no number is typed in by an editor. These figures are computed directly from BLS OEWS state-level wage data. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2025.

Compiled by WageDex Editorial, Occupational Wages Editorial Team · May 15, 2026

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