Pharmacists in California earn a median of $164,610 a year (17% above the U.S. median of $140,910), based on about 34,030 jobs. Pay for the same job differs a lot by employer, experience, industry and city within California. These are wages of employees in the occupation, not a forecast for any individual.
Median annual pay
$164,610
17% above the U.S. median of $140,910
Average annual pay
$162,340
Mean wage
Pay range
$90,560–$213,820
10th to 90th percentile
Jobs in the state
34,030
Employees, May 2025
Median hourly pay
$79.14
Before taxes
The state's price level is 110.7 (U.S. average = 100), so a median of $164,610 here equals roughly $148,699 after adjusting for the state's price level.
Explore more: pharmacists salary in every state · about this career · California earnings by education and major · California counties
Fields of study linked to this career by the federal CIP-to-SOC crosswalk (U.S. Department of Education, NCES, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics; a classification crosswalk, and many workers entered by other routes): Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, state estimates (employees only; self-employed workers are not included); price-level adjustment uses the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (where 100 is the U.S. average; MajorPays' calculation). Wages are for an occupation in a state as a whole and vary widely by employer, experience, industry and place within the state. MajorPays selected and reorganized these figures; neither agency has approved or endorsed this presentation. See Data sources for each dataset's terms.