Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,889
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$10,221
16.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,426
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
$63,110
Kept after tax
$52,889
Worth in national money
$54,426
State rank
13
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $63,110, which ranks 13 of 46 states with published figures. That is about 15.84% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 186 among 493 occupations Texas publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $63,110 the take-home is $52,889, which is worth about $54,426 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $66,720, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas ranks 13 of 46 states publishing a median for camera operators, television, video, and film, at $63,110 — about 15.84% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 186 of 493 in Texas places camera operators, television, video, and film in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for camera operators, television, video, and film on its $63,110 median: $52,889 retained after tax becomes $54,426 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $66,720 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $111,990 |
| This salary | $63,110 |
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 | $52,889 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $52,889 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,302 |
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 | $63,110 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,374 |
| 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 camera operators, television, video, and film in Texas earn under $63,110 and half over. The published range runs $32,360 at the tenth percentile to $111,990 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Texas the take-home figure of $52,889, from $63,110, 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 186 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 $54,426 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 186.
- Figures are distribution medians for camera operators, television, video, and film in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,360 to $111,990; 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.
- Take-home for Texas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $52,889 from $63,110. 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 186 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,426, worked from $63,110, 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 186 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 $66,720 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 $32,360 and the top tenth $111,990 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $54,426.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $52,889 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $66,720. 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 ($32,360) and the ninetieth ($111,990) 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 $54,426 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 $52,889 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.