Hiring a logistician in San Diego, CA

Employers in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA area pay logisticians a median of $100,130, with the middle half of the market between $76,760 and $118,100. San Diego residents working in business and financial operations occupations report a median of $82,976, which is 17% below what the metro pays for this role.

What does a logistician earn here?

Place of work

What employers pay

Annual wages paid by employers in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA area. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
25th percentile	$76,760
Median	$100,130
75th percentile	$118,100

Half of logisticians in this area earn between $76,760 and $118,100. A band set below $76,760 competes for the bottom quarter of the market.

Place of residence

What San Diego residents earn

$82,976

Median earnings of San Diego residents working in business and financial operations occupations, 56,031 people. Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011. Where people live, not where they work, so it is not the same measurement as the wages beside it.

The 17% figure is not a pay gap. ACS counts the civilian employed population 16 and over, part-time and part-year work included; OEWS counts wage-and-salary jobs only. The two populations differ, so read this number against other cities rather than as a shortfall: the same definitional difference applies to every city equally, which is what makes a city-to-city reading sound.

The role pays well above the local residential norm, which usually means you can hire from inside San Diego rather than competing for commuters.

What does the role actually involve?

Core tasks

Maintain and develop positive business relationships with a customer's key personnel involved in, or directly relevant to, a logistics activity.
Develop an understanding of customers' needs and take actions to ensure that such needs are met.
Manage subcontractor activities, reviewing proposals, developing performance specifications, and serving as liaisons between subcontractors and organizations.
Develop proposals that include documentation for estimates.
Review logistics performance with customers against targets, benchmarks, and service agreements.

O*NET 29.1, task statements for SOC 13-1081.

Tools and technologies in demand

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, SAP software, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Power BI.

O*NET 29.1, flagged in demand or hot for this occupation. Useful as a screen, not as a checklist.

Is the talent actually in San Diego?

This is a job zone four: considerable preparation needed occupation. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

That matters here, because 49.9% of San Diego adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That is a deep local pool for a degree-requiring role. Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501.

The average San Diego commute runs 23.9 minutes, which is roughly how far your catchment reaches before candidates start saying no. 19.2% already work from home, so a fully onsite requirement here is competing against that.

How often do these jobs turn over?

In San Diego County, accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services employs 9,548 and turns over 11.4% a quarter, with 1,563 hires against 960 separations. Average earnings in that industry run $7,752 a month. Census LEHD Quarterly Workforce Indicators, 2024 Q1, NAICS 5412.

That figure covers every occupation in the industry, not this role alone, so read it as the local churn rate rather than as a number about logisticians. It still tells you what you are hiring into: a normal churn rate, where a well-run search closes on schedule.

What does the search cost?

The fee is set by the seniority of the role, never by salary and never by location. Across all six tiers it runs $6,240 to $54,340 per search. A contingency firm hiring at this role's median would bill roughly $20,026 to $30,039 on the first year salary alone.

One owner runs the search from market map to signed offer. Searches typically fill in 23 to 35 days, which is a typical window rather than a promise, and the replacement guarantee runs 45 days at 50% off.

Price this search

Eight questions about the role. Your tier range appears on screen.

Hiring a logistician somewhere else?

Same role, different market. The wage band moves with the metro.

Other business and financial operations roles in San Diego

San Diego is the 2th largest of 21 California cities in this dataset.