Compared with the local labor market
Painter III (Correctional Facility) pay vs. California
Across all employers in California, the median wage for Painters, Construction and Maintenance — about 38,430 people — is $59,020. CDCR pays a median base salary of $82,852 for this role, 40% above that figure — about the 83rd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where CDCR sits in the local pay range
$42,130
$47,520
$59,020
$73,040
$91,000
The bar is the range of annual wages for Painters, Construction and Maintenance across every employer in California, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows CDCR’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Painters, Construction and Maintenance — about 225,190 people — is $49,400. CDCR’s median base salary is 68% above that national figure, above the 90th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$37,440
$44,640
$49,400
$61,660
$78,810
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 California range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 33 of 36 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 CDCR is $86,218, 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 California
Painter III (Correctional Facility) is held in 2 California departments. In CDCR, the median of $86,218 ranks #1 of 2.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Painter III (Correctional Facility) role in other Californiadepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.