Top 100 highest-paying jobs in California

Table 1 compares the top 100 highest-paying jobs in California, ranked by annual average salary. For each job, the table displays the number of employees with that job, as well as the job's entry-level salary. (The entry-level salary is calculated based on the 10% of paid workers with the lowest salaries.)

Based on the table, we see that the highest-paying jobs in California are those of nurse anesthetists, with an average annual salary of $235,120. The second highest-paying jobs are those of emergency medicine physician, with an average salary of $232,590.

All of the shown salary and employment information for California has been computed using data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in April 2023. Notably, the highest-paying occupations change from year to year. Tables 2, 3, and 4 show the top 10 highest-paying occupations in California in 2021, 2020, and 2019.

Table 1. Top 100 highest-paying jobs in California (2022 survey)

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i	Entry Level Salary i	No. of Empl i
1	Nurse Anesthetists	$235,120	$94,130	2,000
2	Emergency Medicine Physicians	$232,590	$66,990	0
3	All Other Physicians	$230,940	$65,980	20,840
4	Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons	$230,300	$169,000	240
5	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$225,040	$97,300	9,670
6	Family Medicine Physicians	$223,980	$81,510	10,920
7	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$218,640	$81,880	7,150
8	General Pediatricians	$215,150	$125,990	3,130
9	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$214,320	$191,320	1,420
10	Chief Executives	$212,360	$89,690	36,710
11	Neurologists	$207,060	$179,590	3,050
12	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$198,950	$111,020	94,550
13	All Other Surgeons	$195,870	$112,590	2,480
14	Dermatologists	$195,820	$78,560	420
15	Natural Sciences Managers	$189,990	$107,150	13,810
16	Orthodontists	$187,510	$163,300	1,120
17	Medical Dosimetrists	$181,440	$137,500	40
18	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$179,080	$123,790	34,600
19	Nurse Midwives	$177,800	$88,710	910
20	Computer and Information Research Scientists	$177,770	$94,950	7,510
21	Animal Scientists	$177,150	$62,630	130
22	Lawyers	$175,680	$95,180	87,780
23	Podiatrists	$174,990	$54,970	810
24	Physicists	$170,490	$85,130	5,620
25	Nuclear Engineers	$169,090	$109,740	300
26	Marketing Managers	$166,390	$91,450	56,920
27	Computer Hardware Engineers	$164,990	$99,700	26,270
28	General Dentists	$164,420	$48,800	18,240
29	Software Developers	$164,330	$97,190	258,170
30	Financial Managers	$162,840	$90,990	99,340
31	All Other Managers	$162,690	$80,380	100,360
32	First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives	$159,890	$98,050	7,790
33	Nurse Practitioners	$157,160	$103,890	19,130
34	Pharmacists	$155,830	$92,570	34,100
35	Human Resources Managers	$155,790	$84,150	26,190
36	Database Architects	$155,290	$80,610	4,810
37	Public Relations Managers	$152,600	$85,350	8,410
38	Postsecondary Home Economics Teachers	$150,420	$77,710	300
39	Purchasing Managers	$147,490	$89,490	7,790
40	Physician Assistants	$142,520	$85,050	15,540
41	Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers	$138,420	$83,220	1,630
42	Astronomers	$137,780	$81,830	260
43	Genetic Counselors	$136,210	$97,780	300
44	Radiation Therapists	$135,580	$97,340	900
45	Petroleum Engineers	$134,910	$77,180	2,010
46	Information Security Analysts	$134,830	$72,590	15,110
47	Compensation and Benefits Managers	$134,610	$79,890	2,520
48	Postsecondary Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers	$134,490	$77,710	1,000
49	Mathematicians	$134,220	$82,410	320
50	Marine Engineers and Naval Architects	$134,030	$89,530	170
51	Air Traffic Controllers	$133,640	$70,640	2,350
52	Electrical Engineers	$133,400	$77,690	27,580
53	Advertising and Promotions Managers	$133,390	$77,580	3,750
54	Computer Network Architects	$133,190	$77,150	19,080
55	Electronics Engineers (Non Computer)	$132,980	$79,610	20,660
56	Registered Nurses	$132,660	$84,700	325,620
57	Aerospace Engineers	$132,540	$76,200	10,280
58	Statisticians	$131,960	$77,780	3,030
59	Medical and Health Services Managers	$131,880	$67,250	52,350
60	Elementary and Secondary School Education Administrators	$131,870	$92,420	25,580
61	Training and Development Managers	$130,980	$77,830	5,880
62	Postsecondary Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers	$130,860	$64,040	1,320
63	Art Directors	$130,500	$76,580	13,060
64	Nuclear Medicine Technologists	$130,200	$94,110	1,450
65	Sales Managers	$130,150	$56,480	108,020
66	Multimedia Artists and Animators	$129,680	$65,960	19,120
67	Actuaries	$128,640	$78,750	1,170
68	Postsecondary Economics Teachers	$128,430	$72,170	540
69	Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors	$126,850	$80,200	2,170
70	Elevator Installers and Repairers	$126,840	$64,790	2,280
71	Data Scientists	$126,810	$63,920	29,420
72	Biochemists and Biophysicists	$126,790	$75,970	7,750
73	Postsecondary Engineering Teachers	$125,910	$65,010	1,940
74	Optometrists	$125,590	$76,510	7,750
75	Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers	$124,900	$66,830	33,160
76	Postsecondary Computer Science Teachers	$124,750	$48,910	2,080
77	Sales Engineers	$124,570	$72,220	11,670
78	Veterinarians	$124,530	$61,900	7,770
79	Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists	$123,980	$70,380	18,130
80	Industrial Production Managers	$123,910	$72,290	24,250
81	Postsecondary Agricultural Sciences Teachers	$123,900	$65,180	190
82	First-Line Supervisors of Fire Fighting and Prevention Workers	$123,450	$76,190	6,540
83	Postsecondary Library Science Teachers	$123,280	$70,620	300
84	Other Psychologists	$122,970	$52,890	1,350
85	Computer Systems Analysts	$122,460	$75,150	55,160
86	Engineers, All Other	$121,630	$72,430	27,320
87	Industrial-Organizational Psychologists	$120,940	$80,270	490
88	Postsecondary Education Administrators	$120,710	$77,150	16,570
89	Clinical and Counseling Psychologists	$120,520	$63,330	8,780
90	Postsecondary Architecture Teachers	$120,240	$84,090	160
91	Fundraising Managers	$119,990	$71,070	3,090
92	Construction Managers	$119,810	$77,480	36,670
93	Postsecondary Recreation and Fitness Studies Teachers	$119,620	$59,000	1,640
94	Postsecondary Business Teachers	$116,960	$57,520	4,130
95	Postsecondary Communications Teachers	$116,630	$59,070	2,270
96	General and Operations Managers	$116,480	$57,620	273,130
97	Other Postsecondary Social Sciences Teachers	$116,430	$66,620	1,570
98	Computer Programmers	$116,140	$64,240	19,050
99	Other Physical Scientists	$114,660	$83,220	2,580
100	Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products Sales Representatives	$113,920	$58,160	35,390

Table 2. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in California – 2021 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	Other Specialists Dentists	$198,130
2	Dermatologists	$195,820
3	Chief Executives	$193,350
4	Animal Scientists	$192,120
5	Orthodontists	$187,510
6	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$176,870
7	Natural Sciences Managers	$175,510
8	General Pediatricians	$169,570
9	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$169,130
10	Medical Dosimetrists	$167,140

Table 3. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in California – 2020 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$206,420
2	Orthodontists	$205,980
3	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$203,480
4	General Pediatricians	$201,520
5	Other Specialists Dentists	$200,180
6	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$184,280
7	Natural Sciences Managers	$181,960
8	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$178,310
9	Astronomers	$170,800
10	Nurse Midwives	$170,270

Table 4. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in California – 2019 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$204,760
2	Family Medicine Physicians	$201,950
3	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$200,150
4	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$199,980
5	General Pediatricians	$191,490
6	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$173,180
7	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$169,130
8	Natural Sciences Managers	$166,520
9	Astronomers	$161,850
10	Nurse Midwives	$159,630

Also see The most popular jobs in California.