Compared with the local labor market
Project Director III pay vs. California
Across all employers in California, the median wage for Managers, All Other — about 99,580 people — is $174,560. Forestry and Fire Protection pays a median base salary of $144,713 for this role, 17% below that figure — about the 32nd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Forestry and Fire Protection sits in the local pay range
$98,280
$132,000
$174,560
$221,560
$303,680
Forestry and Fire Protection median · $144,713
The bar is the range of annual wages for Managers, All Other across every employer in California, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Forestry and Fire Protection’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Managers, All Other — about 622,190 people — is $141,900. Forestry and Fire Protection’s median base salary is 2% above that national figure, about the 52nd percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$74,300
$102,880
$141,900
$186,300
$238,270
Forestry and Fire Protection median · $144,713
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 6 of 7 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in 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 Forestry and Fire Protection is $125,779, 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
Project Director III is held in 3 California departments. In Forestry and Fire Protection, the median of $190,894 ranks #1 of 3.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Project Director III role in other Californiadepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
Project Director beyond California
This role is reported in 7 jurisdictions. In California, the median of $145,287 ranks #1 of 7. See Project Director across all of California →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Project Director roles 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.