Art Directors in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$70,928
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$17,342
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,990
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
$88,270
Kept after tax
$70,928
Worth in national money
$72,990
State rank
26
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Texas is 26 of 46 states for art directors, with a middle wage of $88,270. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Texas. It ranks 91 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $88,270, take-home of $70,928 is worth roughly $72,990 in national money. The average comes to $101,580, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Texas ranks 26 of 46 for art directors at $88,270. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within Texas, art directors ranks 91 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Price parity in Texas is near the national base, so for art directors, whose median is $88,270, the adjusted figure of $72,990 differs little from $70,928 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $101,580 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $55,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $88,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $172,130 |
| This salary | $88,270 |
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 | $70,928 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $70,928 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,429 |
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 | $88,270 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,513 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of art directors in Texas earn under $88,270 and half over. The published range runs $55,730 at the tenth percentile to $172,130 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Texas's $70,928, worked from $88,270. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 91 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $72,990 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 91.
- Figures are distribution medians for art directors in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $55,730 to $172,130; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Texas take-home of $70,928, on $88,270 for work ranking 91 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 91 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $72,990, worked from $88,270, 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 91 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $101,580, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $55,730, the highest tenth $172,130, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Texas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $72,990 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $70,928 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $101,580. 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 ($55,730) and the ninetieth ($172,130) 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 $72,990 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 $70,928 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.