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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Correctional Officers And Jailers Salary: Hawaii vs California

Correctional Officers And Jailers earn a median of $66,250 in Hawaii and $95,840 in California. That is a nominal gap of $29,590 (-30.9%), with California paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$66,250
Hawaii median
$60,254 after COL
$95,840
California median
$86,561 after COL
-30.9%
Nominal gap
California leads
-30.4%
Adjusted gap
California leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, California pays $29,590 more per year than Hawaii for correctional officers and jailers, a gap of +30.9%.

After adjusting for cost of living, California still comes out ahead, with roughly $26,307 of extra purchasing power (+30.4% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for correctional officers and jailers in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Correctional Officers And Jailers

Hawaii

Median salary
$66,250
Mean salary
$68,930
Employment
1,260
Location quotient
0.86
Jobs per 1,000
2.0
COL-adjusted median
$60,254
Regional Price Parity
110.0%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Correctional Officers And Jailers page for Hawaii →

Correctional Officers And Jailers

California

Median salary
$95,840
Mean salary
$91,470
Employment
37,760
Location quotient
0.88
Jobs per 1,000
2.1
COL-adjusted median
$86,561
Regional Price Parity
110.7%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Correctional Officers And Jailers page for California →

Related pages

Keep digging into correctional officers and jailers from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.