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

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Phlebotomists

SOC 31-9097 · 2024-2034

Draw blood for tests, transfusions, donations, or research. May explain the procedure to patients and assist in the recovery of patients with adverse reactions.

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

What California expects of this job

Typical pay in California
$57,459per year
Projected openings
19,970
Projected change
+14.7%
Usually needs
Postsecondary non-degree award

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. Service Orientation
  2. Social Perceptiveness
  3. Active Listening
  4. Speaking
  5. Critical Thinking
  6. Reading Comprehension

Pay by region

RegionTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openings
San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties)$64,733750
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County)$63,094360
North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties)$62,950150
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties)$62,539580
San Rafael MD (Marin County)$62,52880
Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties)$60,6311,050
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County)$60,1961,730
Redding MSA (Shasta County)$60,060130
Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County)$59,927160
Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County)$59,09470
Salinas MSA (Monterey County)$58,261140
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County)$57,3964,430
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County)$55,628250
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County)$55,0932,170
Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County)$55,011230
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties)$53,7971,270
North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties)$53,561140
Chico MSA (Butte County)$53,54090
Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties)$53,03650
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties)$51,9251,920
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County)$51,638150
Vallejo MSA (Solano County)$51,401120
Merced MSA (Merced County)$51,123140
Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County)$51,123210
Visalia MSA (Tulare County)$50,290160
Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties)$49,529600
El Centro MSA (Imperial County)$48,120130
Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County)$47,987360

What the pay actually ranges across

The lowest-paid tenth earn under
$46,642
A quarter earn under
$49,011
Half earn under
$57,459
Three quarters earn under
$64,380
The highest-paid tenth earn over
$76,223

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
Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians$80,3584,280+15.5%
Medical Assistants$50,918175,850+22.7%
Paramedics$76,6783,120+15.7%

Programs that train for this job — 55