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Physicians, Pathologists

SOC 29-1222 · 2024-2034

Diagnose diseases and conduct lab tests using organs, body tissues, and fluids. Includes medical examiners.

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

What California expects of this job

Typical pay in California

$191,515per year

Projected openings

710

Projected change

+10.5%

Usually needs

Doctoral or professional degree

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. Critical Thinking
3. Writing
4. Active Learning
5. Active Listening
6. Science

Pay by region

What the pay actually ranges across

The lowest-paid tenth earn under

$108,710

A quarter earn under

$171,788

Half earn under

$191,515

Three quarters earn under

$327,745

The highest-paid tenth earn over

$398,615

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.