Compared with the local labor market
Staff Psychiatrist pay vs. California
Across all employers in California, the median wage for Psychiatrists — about 5,420 people — is $353,500. Developmental Services pays a median base salary of $376,579 for this role, 7% above that figure — about the 59th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Developmental Services sits in the local pay range
$113,990
$173,990
$353,500
$414,640
$496,230
Developmental Services median · $376,579
The bar is the range of annual wages for Psychiatrists across every employer in California, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Developmental Services’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Psychiatrists — about 27,980 people — is $281,870. Developmental Services’s median base salary is 34% above that national figure, about the 77th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$84,060
$154,150
$281,870
$362,740
$446,520
Developmental Services median · $376,579
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 Developmental Services is $379,079, 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
Staff Psychiatrist is held in 2 California departments. In Developmental Services, the median of $246,136 ranks #2 of 2.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Staff Psychiatrist role in other Californiadepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.