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. Toxic Substances Control pays a median base salary of $112,965 for this role, 13% below that figure — about the 37th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Toxic Substances Control sits in the local pay range
$79,790
$95,950
$130,410
$148,650
$170,790
Toxic Substances Control median · $112,965
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 Toxic Substances Control’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. Toxic Substances Control’s median base salary is 5% above that national figure, about the 55th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$69,990
$83,570
$107,110
$134,420
$162,220
Toxic Substances Control median · $112,965
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 124 of 135 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 Toxic Substances Control is $110,456, 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 Toxic Substances Control, the median of $110,456 ranks #1 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.