Bartenders in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$20,295
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$2,395
10.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$20,885
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
$22,690
Kept after tax
$20,295
Worth in national money
$20,885
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Texas pays bartenders a middle wage of $22,690, 47 of 51 states and about 33.93% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Texas this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, bartenders ranks 492. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $22,690, take-home of $20,295 is worth roughly $20,885 in national money. The average comes to $32,640, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Texas's $22,690 median for bartenders places it 47 of 51 states, about 33.93% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Texas reports, bartenders ranks 492 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Texas is near the national base, so for bartenders, whose median is $22,690, the adjusted figure of $20,885 differs little from $20,295 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $32,640 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bartenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $16,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $22,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,300 |
| This salary | $22,690 |
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 | $20,295 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $20,295 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,267 |
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 | $22,690 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,592 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Texas earn less than $22,690. The published range is $16,200 up to $65,300, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Texas the take-home figure of $20,295, from $22,690, 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 492 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $20,885, the adjusted value of that $22,690 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 492 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for bartenders in Texas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $16,200 to $65,300. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Texas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $20,295 from $22,690. 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 492 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $20,885 — the adjusted value of that $22,690 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 492 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 $32,640 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 $16,200 and the top tenth $65,300 — 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 $20,885 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $20,295 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $32,640. 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 ($16,200) and the ninetieth ($65,300) 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 $20,885 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 $20,295 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.