High paying personal care jobs in Merced, CA

Every personal care occupation below is ranked by its median annual wage in Merced, CA. Read the percentile range, not just the median: the gap between the 10th and 90th inside a single personal care job is usually wider than the gap between two different ones, so where you land in a field matters more than which field you pick.

Cost of living: prices in Merced, CA run 1.7% below the national average (2024), so a Merced, CA salary is worth about 1.02× its face value in national terms. That scales every wage here by the same factor — it changes what the numbers mean, not their order.

Local wage estimates are suppressed more often than state ones — BLS withholds any figure too few local employers report — so an occupation missing here simply has no published local estimate.

Wages: BLS OEWS, May 2025 · Cost of living: BEA regional price parities, 2024

Find personal care jobs in Merced, CA

OccupationMedian, Merced, CA · Employed

1Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors$45,890
High school diploma or equivalent
$35,090 – $70,77070
2First-Line Supervisors of Entertainment and Recreation Workers, Except Gambling Services$44,980
High school diploma or equivalent
$37,870 – $85,60050
3Residential Advisors$44,880
High school diploma or equivalent
$36,890 – $69,01040
4Recreation Workers$36,790
High school diploma or equivalent
$34,630 – $47,220160
5Childcare Workers$36,590
High school diploma or equivalent
$34,320 – $47,880390
6Animal Caretakers$36,480
High school diploma or equivalent
$34,830 – $49,86080
7Manicurists and Pedicurists$35,600
Postsecondary nondegree award
$34,320 – $45,440120
8Amusement and Recreation Attendants$35,090
No formal educational credential
$34,320 – $37,670200
9First-Line Supervisors of Personal Service Workers$34,630
High school diploma or equivalent
$34,630 – $61,410120

Bars run from the 10th to the 90th percentile; the middle half is shaded darker, and the tick is the median.

#	Occupation	MedianMerced, CA	10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker	Employed
1	Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness InstructorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$45,890	$35,090 – $70,770	70
2	First-Line Supervisors of Entertainment and Recreation Workers, Except Gambling ServicesHigh school diploma or equivalent	$44,980	$37,870 – $85,600	50
3	Residential AdvisorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$44,880	$36,890 – $69,010	40
4	Recreation WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$36,790	$34,630 – $47,220	160
5	Childcare WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$36,590	$34,320 – $47,880	390
6	Animal CaretakersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$36,480	$34,830 – $49,860	80
7	Manicurists and PedicuristsPostsecondary nondegree award	$35,600	$34,320 – $45,440	120
8	Amusement and Recreation AttendantsNo formal educational credential	$35,090	$34,320 – $37,670	200
9	First-Line Supervisors of Personal Service WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$34,630	$34,630 – $61,410	120

Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Merced, CA. The rarer ones are real jobs — but a 1,190-person occupation at the top of a list answers a different question than the one most readers are asking.

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By field in Merced, CA

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The same fields, narrowed to what you can enter without one. Fields missing here have too few such occupations in Merced, CA to rank honestly.

High paying personal care jobs in Merced, CA

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