Texas salaries: what jobs pay in Dallas, Houston and Austin

If you are weighing a job in Dallas, Houston or Austin, the short answer is that Austin pays the most on average, Dallas sits just above the national average, and Houston sits just below it. In the May 2025 federal wage survey, the average hourly wage across all jobs was $35.85 in Austin, $33.96 in Dallas and $32.51 in Houston, against $33.54 nationwide. Below you will find how that plays out job by job, what prices and Texas's lack of a state income tax do to the number, and how to check your own occupation.

Quick reference: the three metros side by side

All wage figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) regional releases for May 2025. Price levels come from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Regional Price Parities for 2023, the latest year BEA published in its own metro tables.

Price levels in the table are from BEA's 2023 metro tables.

A quick word on what these numbers are. The BLS releases report the mean, which is the plain average: add up everyone's pay and divide by the number of workers. A few very high earners can pull a mean up. The median is the middle worker's pay, and the 10th and 90th percentiles mark the pay below which the lowest-paid tenth and highest-paid tenth of workers fall. Those figures exist for each occupation in the BLS data tool, and the last section shows you how to pull them.

How the three metros compare overall

Austin's lead is real but it comes partly from its job mix. Computer and math jobs make up 6.5 percent of Austin's employment, nearly double the 3.4 percent national share, and management is 10.4 percent of local jobs. More high-paying jobs means a higher overall average, even if a given job pays about the same as elsewhere.

Houston's overall average is below the national figure, but not every Houston job pays less. Large shares of construction, extraction and food service jobs pull the average down, while engineering and legal pay sit above the national average.

Dallas is the middle case. It is the most "corporate" of the three by job mix: management is 9.4 percent of jobs against 7.2 percent nationally, and office and administrative support is the largest single group at 12.1 percent.

If you want a single annual figure, BLS converts hourly means to annual pay by multiplying by 2,080 hours, a full-time year. Applying that to the all-jobs averages gives roughly $74,568 for Austin, $70,637 for Dallas and $67,621 for Houston. Treat them as rough guides; the average blends part-time and full-time roles.

Adjusting for prices

Pay only matters next to what things cost. BEA's Regional Price Parities (RPPs) put each area's price level on a scale where the US average is 100. Dividing a wage by the area's RPP (as a decimal) gives a rough "national-dollars" version.

Worked example (using the published averages):

• Austin: $35.85 ÷ 0.976 = about $36.73
• Dallas: $33.96 ÷ 1.033 = about $32.88
• Houston: $32.51 ÷ 1.002 = about $32.45

On this rough measure, Austin's lead widens and Dallas and Houston end up almost level. Caution: the wages are from 2025, the prices from 2023, and the index averages all households, so your own rent may differ a lot.

What common occupations pay in each metro

Each job group bundles many occupations, so use this to see the pattern, then look up your own title.

A few patterns worth knowing:

• Healthcare cuts against the grain. Dallas pays healthcare practitioners slightly above the US average, while Austin is the lowest of the three despite its higher overall pay. If you are a nurse or therapist, do not assume Austin is the best-paying option.
• Construction pays below the national average in all three. Every metro sits roughly $4 an hour under the US mean for construction and extraction jobs.
• Service work pays least in Houston. Food preparation, healthcare support and building cleaning all show Houston at the bottom of the three.
• Business and finance roles are close everywhere. The spread between the three metros is under $1 an hour, and all three sit a little below the national figure.

Base pay vs total pay

The OEWS figures are a good guide to base pay, but they are not your full package. BLS counts things like commissions, production bonuses and tips in the wage figure, but leaves out overtime, shift differentials, year-end or signing bonuses, stock grants and the employer's spending on benefits.

That gap matters more in some Texas jobs than others:

• Energy and plant work in Houston often involves overtime and shift pay, which can lift real earnings well above the hourly mean.
• Tech jobs in Austin and Dallas at large employers may include equity and annual bonuses that never show up in OEWS.
• Healthcare roles in all three metros commonly use shift differentials for nights and weekends.

The OEWS releases do not publish these extras by metro. If an offer includes them, get the bonus target, overtime expectations and equity schedule in writing.

Where each metro pays a premium

Austin: tech

Austin's computer and math group pays $58.73 an hour on average, a touch above the $57.73 national figure, and it is unusually large: 83,500 jobs. Software developers are the biggest single title, at 31,960 jobs, and they are 2.28 times as concentrated in Austin as in the country overall.

Houston: energy, engineering and industrial trades

Houston's premium shows up in architecture and engineering ($54.26 an hour versus $51.36 nationally) and legal work ($69.70). Its oil and gas field jobs are highly concentrated: rotary drill operators are 7.88 times as common as nationally and derrick operators 6.97 times.

Notice that production work pays above the national average in Houston ($25.52 versus $24.81), unlike in Dallas or Austin.

Dallas: management, corporate and finance

Dallas has 379,320 management jobs. Its premium is less about higher pay per job and more about how many of those jobs exist. Computer and information systems managers are 1.76 times as concentrated as nationally, and construction managers 1.73 times.

Be honest with yourself about the finance angle: business and financial operations make up 7.4 percent of Dallas jobs, above the 6.8 percent national share, but the group's average pay ($44.39) is slightly below the national figure. The concentration means more openings, not automatically higher pay.

Price levels in Dallas, Houston and Austin

BEA's 2023 metro table breaks the price level into parts. Here is how the three compare (US = 100):

Source: BEA, Real Personal Consumption Expenditures and Personal Income by State and Metropolitan Area, 2023, Tables 2 and 4. Note that BEA's 2023 table uses older metro names (Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land).

What jumps out is housing. Austin's rents index is the highest of the three at 126.4, even though its overall index is the lowest. If you rent, Austin may feel more expensive than the headline number suggests. Dallas is pricier than Houston on almost every line.

Newer metro numbers are harder to find. BEA's February 2026 release says it has discontinued its metro-area statistics for real income and spending, while pointing users to its interactive tables for metro price parities. If you need a later year, check those tables directly. BEA's next state release is scheduled for December 10, 2026.

For a state-level view, Texas's statewide price level was 97.2 in 2023 (table above). BEA's newest state figures, for 2024, put California at 110.7, the highest of any state, according to its Regional Price Parities page.

No state income tax: what it does and does not change

Texas does not levy a personal income tax, as the Texas Comptroller notes, and the Texas Constitution bars the legislature from adding one. There is no city income tax in Dallas, Houston or Austin either.

What it changes:

• Your paycheck withholding covers federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, with no state line. On the same gross salary, your take-home pay will usually be higher than in a state with an income tax.
• The dollar savings grow with income, since any percentage-based tax takes more dollars from a bigger paycheck.

What it does not change:

• Federal tax is the same everywhere. Moving to Texas does not lower your federal bill.
• Texas raises money in other ways, mainly sales tax and local property taxes. Homeowners feel property taxes directly; renters feel them through rent.
• Price parities ignore taxes. BEA's RPPs measure prices for goods, services and rents. They do not include income or property taxes, so you need to account for taxes separately.

Tax depends on your income, filing status and deductions, so run your own numbers with each state's official tax pages, or ask a tax professional if the decision is close.

Comparing a Texas offer with one from another state

A quick four-step check:

1. Line up base pay. Put both base salaries side by side, before bonuses.
2. Adjust for prices. Multiply the Texas salary by (other area's RPP ÷ Texas metro RPP). This shows what the Texas salary would need to be in the other area to buy the same basket.
3. Add the tax difference. Estimate the other state's income tax on that salary using its revenue department's calculator or tables. Texas adds none.
4. Compare the extras. Bonus targets, equity, retirement match and health premiums can swing the result more than the city does.

Example 1 (hypothetical): San Jose vs Austin. You have a $180,000 offer in San Jose and a $150,000 offer in Austin. San Jose's 2023 price level was 112.9 and Austin's was 97.6. $150,000 × 112.9 ÷ 97.6 = about $173,514. So before taxes, the Austin offer buys roughly what that amount would in San Jose. Then California's income tax comes off the San Jose side, which narrows the gap further.

Example 2 (hypothetical): New York vs Dallas. A $130,000 offer in New York against $115,000 in Dallas. New York's 2023 price level was 112.5 and Dallas's 103.3. $115,000 × 112.5 ÷ 103.3 = about $125,242. Add New York's state and city income taxes and the two offers end up much closer than the $15,000 headline gap.

The math is rough: your housing choice, commute and household size matter more than any index.

Pay transparency in Texas and how to negotiate

Texas has no statewide law requiring employers to put salary ranges in job postings, and it does not ban employers from asking about your pay history. That puts more of the research on you. You may still see ranges on Texas listings, often because the employer also hires in states that require them, such as Colorado, California, Washington, New York and Illinois, or because it chooses to post them.

Federal law still gives most private-sector workers the right to discuss pay with coworkers, which is a legitimate way to learn what a role really pays.

How to use the data in a conversation:

• Anchor on the local figure, not the national one. If you are a software developer in Austin, the local mean of $143,630 a year is your reference point.
• Know your percentile. Pull the 75th and 90th percentile for your occupation and metro, and place yourself honestly based on experience.
• Redirect the salary history question to your target number.

Scripts you could use:

"Based on BLS data for this occupation in the Austin metro, the average is about $143,630 a year. With six years building payment systems, I'm aiming above that average."

"I'd rather focus on what this role is worth here than on my previous salary. My target for this position is $X."

"I'm relocating from a higher-cost state. I've adjusted my expectations for Texas prices and taxes, and $X is the number that works for me."

No script guarantees a result, since employers set budgets by level and team. A sourced, local number simply makes it easier to ask for the top of a range. For more scripts, see our negotiation guides, and follow state law changes on our pay trends page.

How to look up your occupation

The regional releases only spotlight one job group per metro, so you will want the full tables for your own job.

1. Open the BLS data tool links the releases give for each area: data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0019100/2025 for Dallas, data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0026420/2025 for Houston and data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0012420/2025 for Austin.
2. Find your occupation by its official title. Titles can differ from job-posting titles, so "product engineer" may sit under software developers.
3. Note the median plus the 10th, 25th, 75th and 90th percentiles, not just the mean.
4. Check the employment count. Small counts mean wider error margins, and BLS sometimes withholds a figure entirely.
5. Confirm the metro boundaries. The Dallas metro covers 11 counties including Collin, Denton and Tarrant. The Houston metro includes Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery and, confusingly, Austin County. The Austin metro covers Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties.

Remember that OEWS excludes self-employed workers, so freelancers and contractors should treat the figures as a rough guide.

What to do next

• Pull your occupation's median and percentiles for all three metros from the BLS tool and put them in one table.
• Adjust each figure using BEA's price levels, paying special attention to the housing line if you rent.
• If you are comparing with an out-of-state offer, add that state's income tax to the other side of the ledger.
• Ask each employer for the full package in writing, including bonus target, overtime rules and equity.

For more city-by-city comparisons, browse our salaries by city coverage.