Childcare Workers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,136
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$3,434
12.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,867
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
$28,570
Kept after tax
$25,136
Worth in national money
$25,867
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is among the lower-paying states for childcare workers. The middle earner takes $28,570, ranking 41 of 51 states — about 18.32% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Texas, this one sits low: 483 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $28,570 the take-home is $25,136, which is worth about $25,867 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $29,050, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas ranks 41 of 51 for childcare workers, with a median of $28,570 — about 18.32% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Childcare workers occupies position 483 of 493 in Texas's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for childcare workers on its $28,570 median: $25,136 retained after tax becomes $25,867 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $29,050 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Childcare Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $28,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,290 |
| This salary | $28,570 |
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 | $25,136 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $25,136 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,569 |
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 | $28,570 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,021 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $28,570 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $21,750 and the ninetieth is $37,290 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Texas's $25,136, worked from $28,570. 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 483 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $25,867, the adjusted value of that $28,570 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 483 of 493 in the state.
- The Texas median of $28,570 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $21,750 to $37,290. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Texas take-home of $25,136, on $28,570 for work ranking 483 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 483 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $25,867 — the adjusted value of that $28,570 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 483 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $21,750 at the tenth percentile, $37,290 at the ninetieth.
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 $25,867 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $25,136 of this wage reaches your account, because Texas takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($21,750 to $37,290) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Texas rather than a national figure.
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 $25,867 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 $25,136 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.