Accountant I

Across all employers in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area, the median wage for Accountants and Auditors — about 13,180 people — is $121,700. Finance pays a median base salary of $118,881 for this role, 2% below that figure — about the 47th percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Median total compensation for this role at Finance is $145,564, 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.

Accountant I is held in 5 City of San Jose departments. In Finance, the median of $148,657 ranks #3 of 5.

This role is reported in 38 jurisdictions. In City of San Jose, the median of $141,841 ranks #3 of 38. See Accountant across all of City of San Jose →

• Accountant II 14
• Accounting Technician 10
• Analyst I 5
• Analyst II 11
• Buyer III 5
• Financial Analyst 5
• Investigator Collector I 5
• Investigator Collector II 5
• Mef; Student Intern U Part Time 5
• Program Manager 7
• Senior Account Clerk 12
• Senior Accountant 7
• Senior Analyst 10
• Senior Office Specialist 5