Compared with the local labor market
Hazardous Substances Engineer pay vs. California
Across all employers in California, the median wage for Environmental Engineers — about 4,550 people — is $130,410. Office of Secty Envirmtl Protect pays a median base salary of $48,767 for this role, 63% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Office of Secty Envirmtl Protect sits in the local pay range
$79,790
$95,950
$130,410
$148,650
$170,790
Office of Secty Envirmtl Protect median · $48,767
The bar is the range of annual wages for Environmental Engineers across every employer in California, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Office of Secty Envirmtl Protect’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Environmental Engineers — about 38,340 people — is $107,110. Office of Secty Envirmtl Protect’s median base salary is 54% below that national figure, below the 10th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$69,990
$83,570
$107,110
$134,420
$162,220
Office of Secty Envirmtl Protect median · $48,767
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 Office of Secty Envirmtl Protect is $55,716, 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
Hazardous Substances Engineer is held in 2 California departments. In Office of Secty Envirmtl Protect, the median of $55,716 ranks #2 of 2.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Hazardous Substances Engineer role in other Californiadepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.