Correct me if I'm wrong, but the biggest CA income tax deduction available to most people is the mortgage interest and property tax deductions. So yes, you can deduct a lot of your state taxes - provided you're spending even more on an expensive home.

And yes, the tax rate is progressive, but the average rate is still around 9% at that income level (~36k). Marginal rate is just over 11%.

My overall point is just that almost all of the cost of living delta in CA is from taxes and housing. Didn't mean to get too deep into the numbers.