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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Education And Childcare Administrators, Preschool And Daycare Salary: Massachusetts vs California

Education And Childcare Administrators, Preschool And Daycare earn a median of $68,660 in Massachusetts and $65,420 in California. That is a nominal gap of $3,240 (+5.0%), with Massachusetts 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.

$68,660
Massachusetts median
$64,922 after COL
$65,420
California median
$59,086 after COL
+5.0%
Nominal gap
Massachusetts leads
+9.9%
Adjusted gap
Massachusetts leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Massachusetts pays $3,240 more per year than California for education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare, a gap of +5.0%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Massachusetts still comes out ahead, with roughly $5,836 of extra purchasing power (+9.9% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Education And Childcare Administrators, Preschool And Daycare

Massachusetts

Median salary
$68,660
Mean salary
$72,470
Employment
2,230
Location quotient
1.32
Jobs per 1,000
0.6
COL-adjusted median
$64,922
Regional Price Parity
105.8%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Education And Childcare Administrators, Preschool And Daycare page for Massachusetts →

Education And Childcare Administrators, Preschool And Daycare

California

Median salary
$65,420
Mean salary
$76,280
Employment
8,290
Location quotient
0.99
Jobs per 1,000
0.5
COL-adjusted median
$59,086
Regional Price Parity
110.7%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Education And Childcare Administrators, Preschool And Daycare page for California →

Related pages

Keep digging into education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare 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.