Compared with the local labor market
Psychiatric Technician (Safety) pay vs. California
Across all employers in California, the median wage for Psychiatric Technicians — about 14,100 people — is $49,140. Department of State Hospitals pays a median base salary of $79,174 for this role, 61% above that figure — about the 80th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Department of State Hospitals sits in the local pay range
$40,880
$46,620
$49,140
$74,390
$88,090
Department of State Hospitals median · $79,174
The bar is the range of annual wages for Psychiatric Technicians across every employer in California, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Department of State Hospitals’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Psychiatric Technicians — about 156,960 people — is $45,130. Department of State Hospitals’s median base salary is 75% above that national figure, above the 90th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$35,090
$38,430
$45,130
$50,160
$60,750
Department of State Hospitals median · $79,174
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 2,557 of 3,223 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 Department of State Hospitals is $87,505, 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
Psychiatric Technician (Safety) is held in 4 California departments. In Department of State Hospitals, the median of $87,505 ranks #3 of 4.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Psychiatric Technician (Safety) role in other Californiadepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
Psychiatric Technician beyond California
This role is reported in 5 jurisdictions. In California, the median of $87,817 ranks #3 of 5. See Psychiatric Technician across all of California →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Psychiatric Technicianroles 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.