- The middle half earn between $36.89 and $61.87 an hour.
- Only 8 states pay construction supervisors more at the median.
- California pays more than 2 of its 3 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 71,750 construction supervisors on payrolls in California.
- At the state median wage, a contracting business needs to bill about $153.06 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Construction Supervisor pay in California, bottom to top
BLS calls this group first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers: the foremen and crew leads who run the work on site.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $29.18 | $60,690 | $25.62 |
| 25th percentile | $36.89 | $76,740 | $30.48 |
| Median | $46.96 | $97,680 | $38.42 |
| 75th percentile | $61.87 | $128,690 | $48.78 |
| 90th percentile | $75.25 | $156,530 | $61.66 |
| Average (mean) | $49.89 | $103,760 | $41.56 |
From the bottom tenth ($29.18) to the top tenth ($75.25), the top of the scale pays about 2.6 times the bottom in California, close to the 2.4 times spread for construction supervisors nationwide.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $29.18 against $25.62 at the bottom tenth, and $75.25 against $61.66 at the top.
The average, $49.89, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How California compares with other states
Over a full year, the California median of $97,680 is $17,760 more than the national $79,920.
In the state ranking, California sits 9th, between Massachusetts ($47.04) and Minnesota ($46.93). The range runs from $29.44 in Arkansas to $52.68 in Washington.
Against its neighboring states, California is in the middle: Oregon pays more, and Arizona and Nevada pay less.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in California. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
How many construction supervisors work in California
BLS estimates 71,750 construction supervisors on payrolls in California, 8.8% of the 812,210 nationwide. Only 1 state has more.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 3.9 per 1,000 jobs, 0.75 times the national share.
What a contracting business in California should charge
Higher wages in California go straight into the price. Take a contracting business in California paying the state median of $46.96 and run it through the labor rate calculator with its starting numbers (40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit).
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $46.96 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $105,149 |
| Break-even rate | ($105,149 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $130.10 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $130.10 ÷ 0.85 | $153.06 |
That is $153.06 per billable hour, 3.3 times the wage, and $15.00 more than the $138.06 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $61.87 in California, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $179.24.
At this wage the pay itself is the biggest part of the price, so every raise shows up in the rate: a dollar more an hour adds about $1.76 per billed hour.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 47-1011, first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: construction supervisor salary by state.