Compared with the local labor market
Chemist I pay vs. the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area
Across all employers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, the median wage for Chemists — about 3,190 people — is $87,060. Public Works - Sanitation pays a median base salary of $109,689 for this role, 26% above that figure — about the 71st percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Public Works - Sanitation sits in the local pay range
$59,570
$74,920
$87,060
$113,630
$135,800
Public Works - Sanitation median · $109,689
The bar is the range of annual wages for Chemists across every employer in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Public Works - Sanitation’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Chemists — about 82,770 people — is $91,240. Public Works - Sanitation’s median base salary is 20% above that national figure, about the 63rd percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$58,460
$69,460
$91,240
$125,550
$160,830
Public Works - Sanitation median · $109,689
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 36 of 37 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at Public Works - Sanitation is $133,395, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
Chemist beyond City of Los Angeles
This role is reported in 16 jurisdictions. In City of Los Angeles, the median of $112,907 ranks #4 of 16. See Chemist across all of City of Los Angeles →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Chemist roles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.