SOC 15-2051, wage year 2025-26

Data Scientists prevailing wage in California

Short answer

In California, the median prevailing wage for data scientists across its 28 areas is $34.20 an hour at Level 1 ($71,136 a year) and $64.15 an hour at Level 4 ($133,432 a year). The Level 2 median of $44.30 is 13% above the national median across areas ($39.14). San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA is the highest-paying area at $83.80 at Level 2, and Chico, CA the lowest at $35.94.

Every California area for data scientists

Area	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$59.39	$83.80	$108.21	$132.62
Merced, CA	$56.30	$81.06	$105.83	$130.59
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$49.77	$64.40	$79.04	$93.67
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$37.46	$54.75	$72.04	$89.33
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$35.83	$49.38	$62.94	$76.49
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$35.18	$48.90	$62.63	$76.35
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$36.71	$48.81	$60.90	$73.00
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$35.58	$47.86	$60.15	$72.43
El Centro, CA	$34.28	$47.84	$61.40	$74.96
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$33.12	$45.91	$58.70	$71.49
Vallejo, CA	$35.00	$45.73	$56.45	$67.18
Stockton-Lodi, CA	$34.76	$44.93	$55.11	$65.28
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$33.99	$44.63	$55.27	$65.91
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$36.68	$44.40	$52.13	$59.85
North Coast Region of California nonmetropolitan area	$36.24	$44.20	$52.15	$60.11
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$31.07	$44.08	$57.09	$70.10
Yuba City, CA	$36.21	$44.06	$51.90	$59.75
Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region of California nonmetropolitan area	$34.12	$43.45	$52.78	$62.11
Napa, CA	$32.69	$42.02	$51.36	$60.69
Salinas, CA	$31.05	$41.71	$52.36	$63.02
North Valley-Northern Mountains Region of California nonmetropolitan area	$30.28	$41.05	$51.82	$62.59
Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$30.02	$40.28	$50.54	$60.80
Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$31.04	$40.05	$49.06	$58.07
Redding, CA	$30.97	$38.75	$46.52	$54.30
Fresno, CA	$28.48	$38.56	$48.64	$58.72
Visalia, CA	$26.38	$37.47	$48.56	$59.65
Modesto, CA	$27.84	$36.98	$46.13	$55.27
Chico, CA	$29.09	$35.94	$42.78	$49.63

Hourly dollars. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC), prevailing wage data, wage year 2025-26. An LCA is not an H-1B approval or a job opening.

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