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Accountants & Auditors salary in Salinas, CA

Median pay for accountants & auditors in Salinas, CA: $83,990/yr

Typical range (10th–90th percentile): $58,640 – $135,570 · about 900 employed locally

Above the typical metro median ($74,290) by +$9,700 (+13%).

What it's really worth in Salinas

With Salinas's cost of living at 113 (US=100), that $83,990 has the buying power of about $74,209 in an average-cost US metro.

Local context: median household income $91,043 · median home $850,461 · median rent $2,895/mo.

Full Salinas cost of living & taxes →

How Salinas ranks for this job

On raw pay, Salinas, CA is 18th of the 187 metros we hold accountants & auditors wages for. Once Salinas's cost of living is applied, it ranks 132nd.

The headline number flatters Salinas. Once housing and everyday costs are taken into account, accountants & auditors here keep less of what they earn than the raw salary implies.

What that salary buys in Salinas

A median home in Salinas, CA costs $850,461 — about 10.1× this salary, against a typical US metro figure of 4.7×. Buying is harder here than in the average metro on this income.

Median rent of $2,895/mo works out at 41% of gross pay — above the conventional 30% affordability ceiling, so renting would stretch this salary.

Where accountants & auditors earn more

Pay on its own is only half the picture, so each row shows what rent costs there relative to Salinas.

MetroMedian payvs SalinasRent vs Salinas
San Jose, CA $113,980 +36% 1.3×
San Francisco, CA $103,990 +24% 1.1×
New York, NY $103,900 +24% 1.2×
Washington, DC $97,320 +16% 0.8×

Same job elsewhere in CA

MetroMedian payvs SalinasRent vs Salinas
San Jose, CA $113,980 +36% 1.3×
San Francisco, CA $103,990 +24% 1.1×
Santa Rosa, CA $93,650 +12% 0.9×
San Diego, CA $89,120 +6%

Staying in CA keeps state income tax and licensing the same, which makes these the most directly comparable moves.

Other jobs in Salinas

Source: US BLS OEWS (May 2023) median annual wage; cost of living from BEA; home price and rent from Zillow; household income from US Census ACS. Rankings are across the 187 metros we hold wage data for in this occupation. Estimates for guidance only. See methodology.