There is an awkward truth buried in the salary data most California residents never find: San Jose is the highest-paying metro area for Surgical Technologists in the entire United States, averaging $105,420 per year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Not Houston. Not New York. San Jose. The San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward metro follows at $96,990. California as a state ranks second in the country, with a mean annual wage of $82,810. If you have been searching for surgical tech programs in California, the labor market context is worth understanding before you choose a program – because where you train, what credential it prepares you for, and how much clinical case exposure you get before graduation are the three variables that will determine whether you enter that market from a position of strength or spend months at the back of the applicant queue.