News Update

New college graduates in California the 10th-lowest paid among states

Recent college graduates living in California last year earned the 10th-lowest wages among the states, adjusted for regional costs of living, according to financial data released by Self Financial, a financial technology company that helps people build credit.

The cost-adjusted median earnings of college grads ages 22 to 27 in 41st-place California was $42,955.  In 6th-highest Texas, a destination for some Californians fleeing the state during the pandemic, the median was $49,741. There is such a wide disparity in ranking because California’s cost of living is 16.4% higher than the national average, second only to Hawaii, compared with 3.5% below the national average in Texas.

North Dakota, where the cost of living is 10.7% below average, but the cost of enduring winter is off the charts, had the top median wage — $53,751.

The data was collected as of pre-Covid March 2020. “College graduates seeking employment last spring faced the worst job market since the Great Depression, and it remains to be seen how wages will be affected in the coming years,” the study noted.

The study also looked at earnings in the 50 largest metropolitan areas. Even after factoring in the high cost of living, the high-tech San Jose-Santa Clara-Sunnyvale area was #1, with a median earning of $56,827 — $3,000 ahead of #2 St. Louis.

San Francisco was 7th ($52,045); Sacramento was 37th ($43,441); Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim was 44th ($40,404), and San Diego was 48th ($39,016).