Compared with the local labor market
Senior Occupational Therapist pay vs. California
Across all employers in California, the median wage for Occupational Therapists — about 13,810 people — is $124,510. Department of State Hospitals pays a median base salary of $40,440 for this role, 68% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Department of State Hospitals sits in the local pay range
$85,550
$103,950
$124,510
$136,380
$158,560
Department of State Hospitals median · $40,440
The bar is the range of annual wages for Occupational Therapists 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 Occupational Therapists — about 162,450 people — is $100,330. Department of State Hospitals’s median base salary is 60% below that national figure, below the 10th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$71,690
$82,510
$100,330
$116,670
$131,950
Department of State Hospitals median · $40,440
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.
Median total compensation for this role at Department of State Hospitals is $67,190, 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
Senior Occupational Therapist is held in 2 California departments. In Department of State Hospitals, the median of $67,190 ranks #2 of 2.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Senior Occupational Therapist role in other Californiadepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.