Surgeon salary in California: what each kind of surgeon earns.
There is no single surgeon wage. Here is the BLS median for each kind of surgeon in California, how many people do the work there, and how it compares with the national figure.
$131,990 – $400,150
Range of medians across the 3 surgeon occupations BLS publishes for California. No BLS figure combines them.
BLS publishes no single “surgeon” wage for California. Across the 3 surgeon occupations with a published May 2025 median in California, median annual pay ran from $131,990 (“surgeons, all other”) to $400,150 (“ophthalmologists, except pediatric”). “Ophthalmologists, except pediatric”, the largest of them in California (820 employed), earned a median of $400,150, compared with $300,080 nationally.
Surgeons in California at a glance
“Ophthalmologists, except pediatric” are the largest surgeon occupation with a published median in California, with 820 employed and a median annual wage of $400,150 in May 2025 (BLS).
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
Among the surgeon occupations with a published median in California, “ophthalmologists, except pediatric” had the highest: $400,150 (May 2025, BLS).
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
1 of the 3 surgeon occupations with a published median in California were paid above their own national median in May 2025 (BLS).
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
Nationally, BLS publishes a median of $369,540 for its surgeons group; BLS publishes no state figure for that group, so this page shows each occupation separately.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
What each kind of surgeon earns in California
Data One row per BLS occupation with a published state median, sorted by median annual pay. Hourly pay is shown only where BLS publishes it.
| Occupation (BLS title) | Median annual pay, California | Median hourly | Employed in California | National median | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric | $400,150 | $192.38 | 820 | $300,080 | +33% vs national |
| Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric | $253,430 | $121.84 | not published | $358,550 | -29% vs national |
| Surgeons, All Other | $131,990 | $63.46 | not published | $414,010 | -68% vs national |
Data The other 1 surgeon occupation on the national page, and what BLS publishes for California:
- no estimate in BLS's May 2025 file for California: Pediatric Surgeons.
How this page is built
Pay and employment are BLS OEWS state estimates for California, May 2025, for each BLS detailed occupation on the national Surgeons page. BLS publishes no surgeon-wide state figure; nothing on this page is averaged or combined by TryHired. “Difference” compares each occupation's state median with its own national median. Top-coded medians (BLS “#”) are shown as “$239,200 a year or more”, never as a number.
- Pay at a specific employer, hospital system, union contract or school district.
- Pay in a specific city: metro figures differ from the state median.
- Licensing rules in California.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).