Do carpenters make more in Salinas or San Francisco?

San Francisco pays more: the median is $67,530 in Salinas and $89,200 in San Francisco, a 24% difference.

Carpenter salary in Salinas, CA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Carpenters in the Salinas, CA area earn a median of $67,530 a year, or $32.47 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $104,630. Across all of California, the median is $75,920, so Salinas pays 11% less than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$67,530

Bottom 10% under$47,930Top 10% over$104,630

Apprentice starting pay (estimate): $23.04/hr
Jobs in this area: 1,210
After cost of living: $61,930
Median hourly pay: $32.47/hr
vs U.S. median: +11%
vs California median: −11%
Mean (average) pay: $72,380 a year · $34.80 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 41500, Salinas, CA). Excludes self-employed carpenters. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Pay by percentile

What carpenters in Salinas, CA earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.

Percentile	Hourly	Yearly
10th percentile	$23.04	$47,930
25th percentile	$24.94	$51,870
Median (50th)	$32.47	$67,530
75th percentile	$39.57	$82,300
90th percentile	$50.30	$104,630

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

How Salinas, CA compares

Salinas ranks 22nd of 25 California metro areas for carpenter pay.
Carpenters are more concentrated in the Salinas area than nationally: 6.5 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.5 times the U.S. share.

Other California metro areas

Other trades in Salinas, CA

Electrician HVAC technician Welder Plumber Diesel mechanic Heavy equipment operator Auto mechanic Roofer

Questions

Do carpenters make more in Salinas or San Francisco?: San Francisco pays more: the median is $67,530 in Salinas and $89,200 in San Francisco, a 24% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2031 (Carpenters), area code 41500 (Salinas, CA). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed carpenters and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (109.0, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures