Electrical Engineer Salary in California 2026,
$144,040 Median | BLS Data by City

California electrical engineers earn a median $144,040 a year, $69.25 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $106,100 and $185,520 and a full range of $81,840 to $217,760. That is 19.4% above the $120,630 national median, the largest professional engineering premium among the big states.

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at $187,060, then San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at $166,030, Santa Rosa-Petaluma at $164,880, Vallejo at $160,060 and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim at $139,780. The gap between San Jose and Los Angeles is nearly fifty thousand dollars — the widest intra-state spread for this occupation anywhere.

Usually not. California's industrial exemption means engineers designing products inside a manufacturing or technology company do not require licensure, which covers most of the state's electrical engineering workforce. The BPELSG Professional Engineer licence in electrical engineering is required to seal building electrical systems, utility distribution and public works designs — the consulting and utility side of the profession.

Because the work is semiconductor and hardware design at the frontier of the industry, competing globally for a small pool of people who can do it, and because much of the compensation is equity that the employer treats as part of the package. The San Jose metro median of $187,060 is what that competition produces — and it is close to the California 75th percentile of $185,520, meaning the Bay Area technology sector effectively constitutes the upper quartile of this profession statewide.

Considerably. RSU and option income is taxed as ordinary compensation at California's progressive rates up to 13.3%, and the state sources that income based on where the work was performed during the vesting period — so moving away does not necessarily escape California tax on already-vesting grants. The 1.3% uncapped State Disability Insurance contribution applies on top of all wages in 2026.

Because it means California's highest-paid electrical engineers operate entirely outside the licensing system. Semiconductor, hardware and systems designers reach the $217,760 ninetieth percentile on technical grade and equity without ever sitting a licensure examination, while the licensed side of the profession — building systems, utility distribution, public works — has a lower and flatter distribution. Two career structures, one occupation code.

It is a wage figure in a sector where wages are not the whole package. Bay Area hardware and semiconductor compensation includes substantial equity that OEWS does not capture, so the $185,520 seventy-fifth percentile and the San Jose median of $187,060 both understate total compensation at technology employers — while accurately describing what a utility or consulting electrical engineer in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, at $139,780, actually takes home.

Toward the grid. California's electrification programme, storage deployment, and the interconnection queue for renewable generation all require sealed electrical design work, and the pool of California PEs able to do it is small relative to the demand. For engineers who prefer the licensed route to the technology route, that is the growth area — and it is one of the few paths to the state 75th percentile of $185,520 that does not require a Bay Area address.