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Afterward · CA

California training programs, and what happened to the people who took them

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Tax Preparers

SOC 13-2082 · 2024-2034

Prepare tax returns for individuals or small businesses.

How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.

What California expects of this job

Typical pay in California
$71,205per year
Projected openings
15,610
Projected change
+12.1%
Usually needs
High school diploma or equivalent

Bright Outlook — a U.S. Department of Labor designation
Rapid Growth

The Department's own designation, made from its national projections. It is not this project's assessment and it is not California's: every other figure on this page comes from California's projection, which can point the other way and for some occupations does.

Skills this work uses most

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.

  1. Reading Comprehension
  2. Active Listening
  3. Critical Thinking
  4. Active Learning
  5. Speaking
  6. Time Management

Pay by region

RegionTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openings
San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties)$86,0701,370
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties)$85,1501,140
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County)$76,0504,060
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County)$76,0142,300
Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties)$62,701240
Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County)$61,54070
Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County)$58,912150
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties)$58,322770
North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties)$58,07740
Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties)$55,887690
Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County)$52,67930
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County)$49,5621,350
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County)$45,712250
Vallejo MSA (Solano County)$45,58070
Salinas MSA (Monterey County)$45,35690
North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties)$45,34550
Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County)$45,121130
Chico MSA (Butte County)$44,88750
Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County)$44,347110
Redding MSA (Shasta County)$40,69140
Merced MSA (Merced County)$39,13240
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties)$37,218780
Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties)$36,54540
El Centro MSA (Imperial County)$35,58840
San Rafael MD (Marin County)Not reported90

What the pay actually ranges across

The lowest-paid tenth earn under
$39,563
A quarter earn under
$48,216
Half earn under
$71,205
Three quarters earn under
$86,314
The highest-paid tenth earn over
$105,745

A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.

Similar work

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.

OccupationTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openingsProjected change
Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents$75,3537,640+4.3%
Accountants and Auditors$98,678154,340+7.5%
Personal Financial Advisors$132,51628,210+9.4%
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks$60,632178,570-4.1%
Credit Counselors$68,2461,690+4.2%
Credit Analysts$99,5022,580-9.4%

Programs that train for this job — 24