California Stats: What Workplace Data Says, Regionally

Every year, TriNet surveys employers and employees across the country to understand what’s actually happening inside businesses. Not what the headlines say, but what the people running teams and working in them are genuinely experiencing. This year, we went deeper. For the first time, the 2025 State of Work report includes regional breakdowns across seven distinct markets in the United States. We’re releasing them one at a time, and this installment turns to California.

The 2025 State of Work: California draws from a survey of 90 employers and 46 employees across the state. It covers six themes: how and where people work, AI adoption, skills development, compensation, engagement, and talent mobility.

In each area, we compare what employers believe against what employees actually report. What emerges is a picture of a state that’s genuinely invested in its workforce, with some meaningful gaps between intention and employee experience that are worth paying attention to.

One finding stands out above the rest. California employees rank better benefits (37.0%) and work/life balance (34.8%) above better pay (32.6%) as reasons to leave — while employers still put pay at the top (40.0%). That gap matters because it’s actionable. Employers who close it by giving their teams access to benefits packages that can better compete with companies far larger than theirs are often the ones building workforces that stay.

The mobility numbers raise the stakes. 37.0% of California employees are planning to make a move within the year, and 52.2% are actively looking or open to switching. Most employers in the state significantly underestimate that — 28.4% believe fewer than 10% of their people are looking.

What makes the California data worth reading carefully is that this state is operating at high engagement levels, and yet mobility is just as high. Half of California employees describe themselves as extremely engaged. They’re not checked out. Many of them are actively looking while still showing up fully at their current company. That combination tells a specific story. The employers keeping their best people aren’t winning on culture alone. They’re winning on infrastructure: benefits access, HR support, and people practices that make the day-to-day experience of working for a smaller company feel genuinely competitive.

The report isn’t a verdict on how California employers are doing. Most of the businesses reflected in this data are doing a lot of things well. What it offers is visibility. A clearer picture of where the gaps are showing up, what employees in this state actually value, and where the opportunity sits for employers who want to stay ahead of it.

TriNet works with businesses across California to help them close exactly these kinds of gaps, through big company benefits access, HR administration supported by real people, and dedicated expertise that understands what it means to operate in this market.

The 2025 State of Work: California is available now. Download it free and see where the data lands for your business.

This is part of a series of seven regional reports. We’ve already released the Southeast, and over the coming months we’ll be sharing findings from New York and New Jersey, the Greater West, the Mid-Atlantic, the Southern Central region, and the Great Lakes and New England. Each one tells a different story. We’ll be publishing a post like this one each time a new report drops.

Download the 2025 State of Work: California

Talk to a TriNet HR expert about what the data means for your business