Chemists in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,927
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$20,713
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$81,221
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
$99,640
Kept after tax
$78,927
Worth in national money
$81,221
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Texas pays chemists a middle wage of $99,640, ranking 13 of 51 states and sitting about 9.21% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Texas. It ranks 68 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $99,640 the take-home is $78,927, which is worth about $81,221 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $106,830, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas's median for chemists is $99,640, about 9.21% above the national figure and 13 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.
- Within Texas, chemists ranks 68 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.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for chemists on its $99,640 median: $78,927 retained after tax becomes $81,221 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $106,830 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Chemists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $99,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $170,250 |
| This salary | $99,640 |
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 | $78,927 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $78,927 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,928 |
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 | $99,640 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,247 |
| 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 chemists in Texas earn under $99,640 and half over. The published range runs $58,850 at the tenth percentile to $170,250 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 $78,927, worked from $99,640. 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 68 of 493.
- Two cautions on $81,221, the adjusted value of that $99,640 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Texas. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 68 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for chemists in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $58,850 to $170,250; 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 $78,927, on $99,640 for work ranking 68 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 68 of 493 in the state.
- This $81,221 adjusted figure, worked from $99,640, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 68 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 68 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $106,830, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $58,850, the highest tenth $170,250, 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 $81,221 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $78,927 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?
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 $106,830. 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 ($58,850) and the ninetieth ($170,250) 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 $81,221 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 $78,927 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.