Commercial Pilots in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$105,562
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$32,398
23.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$108,630
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
$137,960
Kept after tax
$105,562
Worth in national money
$108,630
State rank
9
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is one of the better-paying states for commercial pilots. The middle earner takes $137,960, which ranks 9 of 48 states with published figures. That is about 11.96% above the national middle.
- Within Texas this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, commercial pilots ranks 15 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $137,960, take-home of $105,562 is worth roughly $108,630 in national money. The average comes to $152,090, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Texas ranks 9 of 48 states publishing a median for commercial pilots, at $137,960 — about 11.96% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Texas publishes a median for, commercial pilots sits 15 of 493 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Price parity in Texas is near the national base, so for commercial pilots, whose median is $137,960, the adjusted figure of $108,630 differs little from $105,562 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $152,090 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $68,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $137,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $259,990 |
| This salary | $137,960 |
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 | $105,562 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $105,562 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,591 |
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 | $137,960 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,976 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $137,960 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $68,460 and the ninetieth is $259,990 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $105,562 take-home in Texas comes from $137,960. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 15 of 493.
- Two cautions on $108,630, the adjusted value of that $137,960 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 15 of 493 locally.
- The Texas median of $137,960 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $68,460 to $259,990. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $105,562, from $137,960, assumes a single Texas filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 15 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 48 for it.
- This $108,630 adjusted figure, worked from $137,960, 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 15 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 15 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 $152,090, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $68,460 at the bottom tenth to $259,990 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $108,630 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $105,562 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 48 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 $152,090. 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 ($68,460) and the ninetieth ($259,990) 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 $108,630 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 $105,562 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.