The highest paying job in California is Chief Executives, with a median salary of $220,600 per year. Below is the complete ranking of the top 25 careers in CA based on 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2024
Ranked by median annual salary. Click any job to see the full salary breakdown including percentile data and state-by-state comparisons.
| Rank | Occupation | Median Salary | Mean Salary | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chief Executives | $220,600 | $289,530 | 36,980 |
| 2 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $211,340 | $232,710 | 100,020 |
| 3 | Natural Sciences Managers | $204,100 | $219,470 | 14,120 |
| 4 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $201,810 | $205,610 | 30,690 |
| 5 | Physicians, All Other | $201,510 | $215,710 | 20,750 |
| 6 | Lawyer | $197,790 | $254,170 | 92,580 |
| 7 | Nurse Midwives | $196,700 | $179,630 | 880 |
| 8 | Podiatrists | $193,510 | $175,400 | 930 |
| 9 | Physicists | $180,900 | $187,720 | 6,220 |
| 10 | Computer Hardware Engineers | $179,880 | $183,350 | 24,200 |
| 11 | Dentists, General | $178,540 | $184,350 | 14,760 |
| 12 | Marketing Manager | $178,160 | $206,150 | 56,300 |
| 13 | Mathematical Science Occupations, All Other | $175,170 | $157,580 | 220 |
| 14 | Financial Manager | $174,920 | $210,640 | 96,860 |
| 15 | Software Developer | $170,910 | $185,750 | 292,630 |
| 16 | Managers, All Other | $170,740 | $189,130 | 103,510 |
| 17 | Human Resources Manager | $169,140 | $198,850 | 27,680 |
| 18 | Nuclear Engineers | $167,660 | $170,560 | 870 |
| 19 | Nurse Practitioners | $166,610 | $173,190 | 20,980 |
| 20 | Physicians, Pathologists | $165,940 | $216,910 | 2,180 |
| 21 | Pharmacist | $165,150 | $162,110 | 34,490 |
| 22 | First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives | $162,740 | $162,570 | 12,980 |
| 23 | Geography Teachers, Postsecondary | $162,050 | $160,400 | 330 |
| 24 | Physician Assistants | $161,080 | $161,980 | 13,570 |
| 25 | Compensation and Benefits Managers | $160,740 | $176,290 | 2,840 |
Average Salary in California · All California Jobs · Build Your Resume →
The top-paying careers in California are concentrated in Management fields. The #1 job, Chief Executives, pays $136,721 more than the state average of $83,878 per year.
Among the top 25, the minimum median salary is $160,740, meaning all jobs on this list pay significantly above the national average.
See how California's top salaries compare to other states.
Rankings are based on median annual salary from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2024 estimates. We use median rather than mean salary because it better represents typical earnings and is less affected by outliers.
Only occupations with state-level data published by BLS are included. Some specialized or rare occupations may not have data for every state. For full methodology details, see our Methodology page.