Architectural and Engineering Managers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$128,397
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$42,973
25.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$132,130
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$171,370
Kept after tax
$128,397
Worth in national money
$132,130
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Texas pays this job a middle wage of $171,370, ranking 17 of 51 states and sitting about 0.06% above the national middle.
- Within Texas this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 7 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $171,370, tax leaves $128,397, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $132,130 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $187,520, since top earners drag the number up.
- Texas's median for architectural and engineering managers is $171,370, about 0.06% above the national figure and 17 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Ranked against every occupation Texas publishes a median for, architectural and engineering managers sits 7 of 493 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Because Texas sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for architectural and engineering managers — median $171,370 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $128,397 retained, $132,130 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $187,520 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Architectural and Engineering Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $120,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $171,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $277,790 |
| This salary | $171,370 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Texas | $128,397 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $128,397 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$8,017 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $171,370 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$12,134 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $171,370 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $120,460 and the ninetieth is $277,790 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Texas the take-home figure of $128,397, from $171,370, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 7 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $132,130 uses one figure for the whole of Texas. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 7.
- The Texas median of $171,370 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $120,460 to $277,790. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Texas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $128,397 from $171,370. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 7 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $132,130, worked from $171,370, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Texas address, on work sitting at 7 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $187,520 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $120,460 and the top tenth $277,790 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Texas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $132,130 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $128,397 survives, because Texas levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Texas is $187,520. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($120,460) and the ninetieth ($277,790) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Texas's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $132,130 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $128,397 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.