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City of Los Angeles / Water and Power / Custodian

Job-title file

Custodian

Operate, maintain, and repair equipment or facilities, performing skilled hands-on work.

160 employees hold this title in Water and Power. Median total compensation for the role is $82,541, below the department median of $106,911.

Employees
160
Total payroll
$12.6M
Role median
$82,541
Agency median
$106,911
Comparison
Below

What the records show

Role pay distribution

Pay distribution for this role

$1,201$122,044+

Hover a bar for its range; click to filter the list below.

How total compensation varies among the 160 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.

Compared with the local labor market

Custodian 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 Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners — about 83,160 people — is $38,720. Water and Power pays a median base salary of $36,335 for this role, 6% below that figureabout the 22nd percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Where Water and Power sits in the local pay range

10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
$35,700
$36,520
$38,720
$47,070
$56,300
Water and Power median · $36,335

The bar is the range of annual wages for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners 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 Water and Power’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.

And across the country

Nationwide, the median wage for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners — about 2,209,760 people — is $36,840. Water and Power’s median base salary is 1% below that national figure, about the 47th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.

10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
$28,640
$32,240
$36,840
$44,060
$50,270
Water and Power median · $36,335

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 143 of 160 people in this role paid at least $25,000in 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 Water and Power is $82,541, 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 departments

This role across City of Los Angeles

Custodian is held in 6 City of Los Angeles departments. In Water and Power, the median of $82,541 ranks #2 of 6.

Highest-paying departments for this role

Zoo
$79,630 · 16
General Services
$73,832 · 198
Police
$66,734 · 2

Median total compensation for the Custodian role in other City of Los Angelesdepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.

Compare jurisdictions

Custodian beyond City of Los Angeles

This role is reported in 18 jurisdictions. In City of Los Angeles, the median of $77,741 ranks #5 of 18. See Custodian across all of City of Los Angeles

Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role

Connecticut
$96,176 · 23
Los Angeles County
$88,717 · 536
City of Las Vegas
$85,992 · 12
City of Seattle
$69,555 · 18
New York City
$59,048 · 320
California
$44,421 · 5,653
City of Greensboro
$44,399 · 37

Median total compensation for comparable Custodianroles 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.

Record list

Employees with this title

Page 1

No employees match these filters.