San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Across all occupations in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metropolitan area, the median wage is $84,050 a year ($40.41 an hour) and the mean $119,230, May 2025. That median is +65% against the US median of $50,980 and +44% against California's $58,240. BLS counts 1,134,970 jobs in the area. The highest-paying occupation is ophthalmologists, except pediatric; the largest is software developers.

All occupations: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA vs California and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area, California and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	Hourly	$19.99	$23.94	$40.41	$80.26	$107.81	$57.32	1,134,970
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	Annual	$41,590	$49,800	$84,050	$166,940	$224,240	$119,230	1,134,970
California	Hourly	$17.28	$20.00	$28.00	$47.06	$76.48	$38.79	18,213,700
California	Annual	$35,950	$41,600	$58,240	$97,880	$159,080	$80,690	18,213,700
United States	Hourly	$15.00	$18.07	$24.51	$38.71	$61.81	$33.54	155,495,730
United States	Annual	$31,200	$37,590	$50,980	$80,520	$128,560	$69,770	155,495,730

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles across all occupations in the metro; the line marks the US median. The same numbers are in the table above.

576 detailed occupations publish a median in this area. State profile: California. Compare any occupation across every area in the wage explorer.

20 highest-paying occupations in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric	$700,850	$336.95	60
2	Psychiatrists	$353,500	$169.95	250
3	Family Medicine Physicians	$351,760	$169.12	1,120
4	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$347,870	$167.25	**
5	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$343,140	*	50
6	Lawyers in California	$301,320	$144.87	6,040
7	Computer and Information Systems Managers in California	$291,660	$140.22	19,070
8	Obstetricians and Gynecologists	$263,990	$126.92	**
9	Natural Sciences Managers	$263,810	$126.83	1,160
10	Physicians, Pathologists	$248,420	$119.43	30
11	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$234,590	$112.78	5,130
12	Materials Scientists	$231,920	$111.50	180
13	Nurse Practitioners	$231,560	$111.33	1,580
14	Marketing Managers	$231,370	$111.24	7,300
15	Training and Development Managers	$230,020	$110.59	880
16	Financial Managers in California	$225,280	$108.31	7,970
17	Physician Assistants	$223,640	$107.52	1,030
18	Human Resources Managers	$220,460	$105.99	2,800
19	Computer and Information Research Scientists	$218,420	$105.01	2,210
20	Managers, All Other in California	$217,280	$104.46	13,740

Ranked by median; an occupation whose median BLS withholds or top-codes in this area cannot appear here, however well it pays.

20 largest occupations in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	Software Developers in California	87,350	76.96	7.09	$213,110
2	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in California	49,610	43.71	1.58	$37,640
3	Fast Food and Counter Workers in California	23,060	20.32	0.82	$44,570
4	Registered Nurses in California	22,930	20.21	0.93	$216,740
5	Computer and Information Systems Managers in California	19,070	16.81	3.90	$291,660
6	Retail Salespersons in California	18,340	16.16	0.64	$44,220
7	General and Operations Managers in California	17,230	15.18	0.67	$163,860
8	Computer Occupations, All Other	16,680	14.70	5.25	$184,430
9	Cashiers in California	16,530	14.56	0.73	$42,960
10	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in California	15,780	13.90	0.98	$43,870
11	Managers, All Other in California	13,740	12.11	3.03	$217,280
12	Office Clerks, General in California	13,470	11.87	0.75	$58,840
13	Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel in California	13,390	11.80	1.46	$116,510
14	Accountants and Auditors in California	13,180	11.62	1.25	$121,700
15	Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists in California	12,710	11.20	1.94	$141,960
16	Waiters and Waitresses in California	12,600	11.10	0.76	$41,920
17	Business Operations Specialists, All Other in California	11,970	10.55	1.51	$108,330
18	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in California	11,830	10.42	0.55	$47,060
19	Security Guards in California	11,800	10.40	1.26	$46,250
20	Stockers and Order Fillers in California	10,610	9.35	0.51	$44,970

Most concentrated occupations in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

The 10 occupations with the highest location quotient among those employing at least 100 people in the area. A quotient of 2.00 means the occupation's share of local jobs is twice its national share.

Rank	Occupation	Location quotient	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Median annual
1	Computer Hardware Engineers	14.19	7,940	7.00	$209,860
2	Semiconductor Processing Technicians	9.28	2,130	1.88	$50,820
3	Electronics Engineers, Except Computer	8.45	5,970	5.26	$194,370
4	Computer and Information Research Scientists	8.14	2,210	1.95	$218,420
5	Software Developers in California	7.09	87,350	76.96	$213,110
6	Web and Digital Interface Designers	5.32	4,400	3.88	$201,260
7	Computer Occupations, All Other	5.25	16,680	14.70	$184,430
8	Tapers	5.09	480	0.42	$92,810
9	Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers	4.76	6,480	5.71	$166,530
10	Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians	4.74	540	0.47	$77,030

Occupation groups in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$210,750	$229,190	115,110	101.42	1.42
Legal	$195,190	$228,260	9,120	8.04	0.96
Computer and Mathematical	$186,320	$202,060	149,970	132.13	3.91
Architecture and Engineering	$163,920	$162,460	48,280	42.54	2.53
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$159,560	$165,480	57,760	50.89	0.81
Business and Financial Operations	$125,240	$134,790	94,210	83.01	1.22
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$121,530	$129,000	10,850	9.56	1.01
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$99,010	$117,900	14,980	13.20	1.00
Educational Instruction and Library	$81,720	$93,930	58,250	51.32	0.88
Construction and Extraction	$80,190	$94,480	39,000	34.36	0.83
Community and Social Service	$79,550	$88,900	16,600	14.63	0.85
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$76,830	$82,000	25,500	22.46	0.57
Office and Administrative Support	$64,250	$71,180	92,890	81.85	0.72
Production	$56,430	$61,470	44,290	39.02	0.71
Sales and Related	$55,040	$82,530	78,530	69.19	0.80
Protective Service	$52,780	$77,230	21,550	18.99	0.78
Transportation and Material Moving	$49,290	$57,200	51,190	45.10	0.51
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$46,340	$52,590	30,810	27.15	0.93
Personal Care and Service	$45,160	$53,010	22,060	19.44	0.93
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$44,870	$48,930	82,810	72.96	0.83
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$43,690	$47,180	1,820	1.61	0.57
Healthcare Support	$37,640	$46,620	69,390	61.14	1.20

Every occupation in California, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profile. All 576 published occupations for this area are in the wage explorer; other metros are on the metros hub.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA estimates (area 41940).

*: Wage estimate not available.
**: Employment estimate not available.

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Jobs per 1,000 is the occupation's employment per 1,000 jobs in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area; the location quotient is that share divided by the national share.
The concentration table keeps only occupations with employment of 100 or more in the area, so a quotient built on a handful of rounded jobs cannot top it.