Construction Laborers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,818
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$5,802
14.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,830
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
$40,620
Kept after tax
$34,818
Worth in national money
$35,830
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is among the lower-paying states for construction laborers. The middle earner takes $40,620, ranking 44 of 51 states — about 13.79% 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: 382 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $40,620, tax leaves $34,818, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $35,830 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $42,910, since top earners drag the number up.
- Texas ranks 44 of 51 for construction laborers, with a median of $40,620 — about 13.79% 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.
- Construction laborers occupies position 382 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.
- Because Texas sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for construction laborers — median $40,620 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $34,818 retained, $35,830 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $42,910 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Construction Laborers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,620 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,930 |
| This salary | $40,620 |
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 | $34,818 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $34,818 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,174 |
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 | $40,620 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,799 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $40,620 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $32,560 and the ninetieth is $56,930 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Texas the take-home figure of $34,818, from $40,620, 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 382 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 $35,830, the adjusted value of that $40,620 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 382 of 493 in the state.
- The Texas median of $40,620 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $32,560 to $56,930. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Texas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $34,818 from $40,620. 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 382 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $35,830 — the adjusted value of that $40,620 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 382 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 $42,910, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $32,560 at the tenth percentile, $56,930 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 $35,830 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $34,818 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $42,910. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,560 to $56,930) 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 $35,830 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 $34,818 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.