Pay Rates in Northern California

Compensation in Northern California, 5th Edition
Survey Summary

PUBLISHED: July 2002

Table of Contents | Sample Report Page

 

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The following summary of the 309-page Compensation in Northern California, 5th Edition survey report of 120 benchmark jobs from Abbott, Langer Association Surveys. describes the highest and lowest paid job characteristics, and the national median total cash compensation for 24 benchmark jobs.

The highest-income practitioners in Northern California (salary plus cash bonus and/or cash profit-sharing) are the Presidents of a financial organization, communication services firm, non-profit organization, or service firm. The organization may have under 500 employees; gross $25 million or more annually; and be headquartered in Marin/Sonoma Counties, San Francisco, Oakland/East Bay, or San Jose. While the median President has a total annual income of $175,632, the highest-income individuals reported in this group make well over $300,000.

Far to the other end of the income spectrum, one of the lowest-paid jobs is a Production Worker, with a median income of $15,600. The lowest-paid employees in this group work for food/beverage/tobacco products processing firm or a manufacturer of chemicals & allied products that is headquartered in Sacramento, Modesto/Stockton, or San Jose.

These composites represent the briefest possible "boil-down" of the voluminous data regarding current salaries, cash bonuses and/or profit sharing, and numerous demographic variables provided by 101 firms. The end results of the annual survey appear in Compensation in Northern California, 5th Edition, a 309-page statistical analysis of compensation paid to over 7,000 employees. Copies of the report are available for $495.00 through our On-Line Order Form or from Abbott, Langer Association Surveys, 1725 I Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 (Telephone: (877) 210-6563, Fax: (877) 239-2457).

In addition to the incomes of the benchmark jobs already discussed, the medial total cash compensation in Northern California of some of the other 118 benchmark jobs included in the survey report is:

Chief Marketing & Sales Executives $150,000
Chief Corporate Financial Officers $118,000
Research and Development Engineers $109,986
Chief Marketing Executive $105,000
Quality Assurance/Control Managers $96,825
Directors of MIS/dp $95,000
Chief Human Resources Executives $87,000
Project Engineers $81,121
Product/Brand Managers $78,500
Purchasing Managers $75,660
Facilities Managers $68,757
Branch Managers $55,870
Secretaries to the Chief Executive Officer $54,960
Secretaries $48,960
Electricians, Maintenance $45,094
General Production Supervisors $45,000
Payroll Clerks $40,800
Maintenance Workers, General $37,327
Shipping and Receiving Clerks $31,464
Retail Store Managers $31,451
Customer Service Representatives $30,910
Tellers (general) $27,601
Data Entry Operators $25,802
Janitors $17,883

The income relationships reported above may be distorted slightly, since some of these benchmark jobs were reported more frequently in organizations of one size, while other benchmark jobs were reported more frequently by larger or smaller organizations. This may also be true for product manufactured, geographic location, and supervisory/managerial responsibility. This possible defect is corrected in the complete survey report by reporting income for each benchmark job overall and with "break-outs" by each demographic variable.

Overall Compensation

For employees in the administrative and professional group, the highest incomes were reported in Oakland/East Bay, Modesto/Stockton, and San Jose. The lowest incomes were reported in Fresno, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Marin/Sonoma Counties.

The sales/marketing group of employees received the highest salaries in San Jose, Sacramento, and Oakland/East Bay, while the lowest salaries were received in Fresno, Marin/Sonoma Counties, San Francisco, and Modesto/Stockton.

In descending order, MIS/dp employees were paid the most in Sacramento, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland/East Bay, Fresno, Marin/Sonoma Counties, and Modesto/Stockton.

For employees in the financial group, the highest salaries were received in Oakland/East Bay, San Jose, and Sacramento. The lowest salaries were received in Fresno, Modesto/Stockton, San Francisco, and Marin/Sonoma Counties.

Clerical workers were paid the most in Oakland/East Bay, San Francisco, and San Jose, and the least in Fresno, Modesto/Stockton, and Sacramento. Marin/Sonoma Counties were in the middle of the range.

Material acquisition/control/movement employees were paid the highest salaries in San Francisco, San Jose, and Marin/Sonoma Counties. The lowest salaries were paid in Sacramento, Modesto/Stockton, Fresno, and Oakland/East Bay.

For the maintenance and repair group of employees, the highest incomes were reported in Oakland/East Bay, Marin/Sonoma Counties, and San Francisco, and the lowest incomes were in Sacramento, Fresno, and Modesto/Stockton. Income in San Jose fell between the two groups.

The bank/credit union-specific group of employees were paid best in Marin/Sonoma Counties and Oakland/East Bay, and least in Sacramento and San Francisco.

In descending order, retailing-specific employees were paid the most in Oakland/East Bay, San Jose, Modesto/Stockton, and Fresno.

Engineering/technical management employees reported the highest salaries in San Jose and San Francisco, while the lowest salaries were in Marin/Sonoma Counties, Modesto/Stockton, and Oakland/East Bay.

For the engineering group, San Francisco and Oakland/East Bay paid the highest annual salaries, while Sacramento, Marin/Sonoma Counties, and San Jose paid the lowest salaries.

Oakland/East Bay and Marin/Sonoma Counties paid the highest salaries to employees in the technical group, and Fresno and San Jose paid the lowest salaries to that group.

Plant/manufacturing/production management employees reported the highest incomes in Oakland/East Bay and San Francisco, and the lowest in Modesto/Stockton and Sacramento. San Jose and Fresno fell in the middle range.

Production supervisors received the highest annual incomes in San Jose and Sacramento, followed by Modesto/Stockton and Fresno. Production workers also were paid the most in San Jose, followed by Marin/Sonoma Counties, Oakland/East Bay, Fresno, Modesto/Stockton, and Sacramento.

In descending order, quality assurance/control, regulatory affairs, and documentation employees were paid the most in San Francisco, Oakland/East Bay, San Jose, Marin/Sonoma Counties, Fresno, Modesto/Stockton, and Sacramento.

Type of Employer

The compensation given to the various groups of employees varies greatly by type of employer. For instance, administrative employees are paid best by publishing firms, while sales and marketing employees, research organizations, and MIS/dp by service firms. Overall, the highest salaries were paid by communications services and publishing firms.

Size of Organization

This factor does not play a large role in determining compensation in Northern California, except in the higher-level positions.


Order the 309-page survey report, Compensation in Northern California, 5th Edition, described on this page for $495, with charges for shipping & handling. The report is IN STOCK and can be shipped out within two business days. The mean, median, 1st and 3rd quartile, and 1st and 9th decile data for base salary, bonus/commission/profit sharing, and total annual cash compensation are reported for many demographic variables, including geographic location, type and size of employer, etc. To purchase the report, use our On-Line Order Form, call (877) 210-6563, , fax, or write per the information at the bottom of this page.

101 organizations supplied current compensation and demographic information for the survey report.

  • Actional Corporation
  • ADP, Claims Solutions Group
  • Advance Consulting, Inc.
  • Albin Engineering Services, Inc.
  • Alkar Human Resources
  • Alliance for Community Care
  • Aloha Networks, Inc.
  • Annual Reviews
  • Arriva Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Benchmark Hospitality at Chaminade
  • Big Creek Lumber Company
  • Bigelow, Inc.
  • Boxer Cross, Inc.
  • Brulin Corporation
  • Calpine Corp., Geysers Geothermal Facility
  • Canesta, Inc.
  • Circuit City Stores, Inc.
  • City & County of San Francisco
  • City of Anderson
  • City of Brisbane
  • City of San Leandro
  • City of Santa Clara
  • Clayton Group Services, Inc.
  • Clif Bar, Inc.
  • CompAnalysis, Inc.
  • Connie Stone, CPA
  • Consumer Credit Counseling Service
  • Contra Costa Water District
  • Contract Office Group
  • Creative Labs, Inc.
  • CRG Consulting Group
  • Dallabrida & Associates
  • Diocese of Fresno
  • DNS Electronics
  • Dominican Oaks
  • Dow Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • Dublin San Ramon Services District
  • E-Color, Inc.
  • Ecolab, Inc.
  • Ecumenical Association for Housing
  • El Rancho Hotel
  • Emergency Housing Consortium
  • Empire Waste Management, Inc., Waste Management, Inc.
  • Employers Group
  • empowerTel Networks, Inc.
  • EnCompass Education Center
  • Essential Therapeutics
  • Exchange Bank
  • ExpatEdge
  • First National Bank of Northern California
  • Frank, Rimerman & Company
  • Fremont Group
  • Gaynor Telesystems, Inc.
  • Girl Scouts of San Francisco Bay Area
  • Good Guys
  • Gunderson Dettmer Sought Villenueve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP
  • Hi-Tec Sports USA, Inc.
  • Housing Authority of the County of Monterey
  • Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley
  • Indian Harvest Specialtifoods, Inc.
  • Integrated BioSystems, Inc.
  • Intelisy
  • Key Curriculum Press
  • Komag, Inc.
  • Kozy Shack Enterprises
  • KQED, Inc.
  • Linhart Peterson Powers Associates
  • Mission Foods, subsidiary of Gruma Corp.
  • Monterey Bay Aquarium
  • Onix Microsystems
  • Optronic Technologies, Inc.
  • Pasha Group
  • Permanente Federation, Permanente Company
  • Professional Group - VMC, Inc.
  • Public Health Institute
  • Raytek Corporation
  • Reneson Hotel Group
  • RHK, Inc.
  • Rod McLellan Company
  • San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
  • San Jose Mercury News
  • San Mateo County Office of Education
  • Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District
  • Sara Lee Coffee & Tea
  • SETI Institute
  • Solano Family & Children's Services
  • SRI Consulting Business Intelligence
  • Superior Foods, Inc.
  • Sutter Health Support Services
  • Talkway Communications, Inc.
  • Technology Forecasters, Inc.
  • Travis Credit Union
  • Tri-County Schools Insurance Group
  • UCSSI
  • Ultratech Stepper, Inc.
  • UNCLE Credit Union
  • Velcon Filters, Inc.
  • WEA Consulting
  • Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean, LLP
  • Yosemite Concession Services
  • Yosemite National Institutes


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Telephone: (877) 210-6563, Fax: (877) 239-2457
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