Lineman salary in San Luis Obispo, CA
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Linemen in the San Luis Obispo–Paso Robles, CA area earn a median of $123,650 a year, or $59.45 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $152,020 a year. Across all of California, the median is $129,040, so San Luis Obispo pays 4% less than the state as a whole.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $34.94/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 170
- After cost of living
- $113,860
- Median hourly pay
- $59.45/hr
- vs U.S. median
- +30%
- vs California median
- −4%
- Mean (average) pay
- $122,620 a year · $58.95 an hour
Pay by percentile
What linemen in San Luis Obispo, 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 | $34.94 | $72,680 |
| 25th percentile | $49.28 | $102,500 |
| Median (50th) | $59.45 | $123,650 |
| 75th percentile | $73.09 | $152,020 |
| 90th percentile | $73.09 | $152,020 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How San Luis Obispo, CA compares
- San Luis Obispo ranks 10th of 12 California metro areas for lineman pay.
- Linemen are more concentrated in the San Luis Obispo area than nationally: 1.4 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.7 times the U.S. share.
Other California metro areas
Other trades in San Luis Obispo, CA
Questions
- Do linemen make more in San Luis Obispo or San Francisco?
- San Francisco pays more: the median is $123,650 in San Luis Obispo and $137,180 in San Francisco, a 10% difference.
About this data
Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 49-9051 (Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers), area code 42020 (San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed linemen 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 (108.6, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures