About CA Tools

What CA Tools is

CA Tools is a free reference site for people who live, work or run a business in California. It has 120 calculators and 91 plain-language guides covering state income tax, paychecks, wages and overtime, benefits, rent and property tax, vehicles, solar and small-business rules.

Each calculator answers one question at a time. How much can my landlord raise the rent? Does my salary clear the exempt threshold? Do I qualify for a utility discount? You enter a few numbers, see the result, and see how it was worked out.

Who runs it

The site is written and maintained by the CA Tools Editorial Team. We are an independent publisher. We are not part of the State of California, and we are not a law firm, a tax preparer or a benefits agency.

We want to be clear about our limits. Our calculators and guides have not been reviewed by a licensed attorney or CPA. They are built from our own careful reading of the published rules, and they are educational estimates. For a decision that matters, confirm the result with the agency involved or a licensed professional.

How we work

• Official sources. Every rate, limit and threshold comes from the agency that publishes it, such as the FTB, EDD, DIR, BOE, CPUC, CARB or CDTFA, or from the county or city office for local figures. Our Data Sources page lists them.
• Dated figures. Each figure is stored with the dates it applies to. When a number expires and the new one has not been published yet, the page says so.
• A published schedule. The Data Update Schedule shows when each set of figures is next due to change.
• Plain language. We write for people who are not lawyers or accountants, and we show the working behind each result.
• Corrections. If you find a figure that looks wrong or out of date, tell us. We check it against the official source and fix it.

Our Editorial & Methodology page describes this process in more detail.

What we don't do

We don't ask you to create an account. We don't store what you type into a calculator, because the calculators run in your browser. We don't give legal, tax or financial advice, and we don't decide whether you qualify for a program. Only the agency that runs it can do that.

How the site is funded

CA Tools is free to use. It may show advertising to cover hosting and research costs. Ads are labeled, and advertisers have no say over our figures, formulas or guides. See Advertising & Disclosure.

Contact us

Questions, corrections and suggestions for new calculators are welcome. Use the contact form and we will reply by email.