Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,345
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$9,355
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,780
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
$58,700
Kept after tax
$49,345
Worth in national money
$50,780
State rank
30
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Texas pays earth drillers, except oil and gas around $58,700 at the midpoint, 30 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Texas, this sits in the middle: 227 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $58,700, tax leaves $49,345, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $50,780 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $60,000, since top earners drag the number up.
- For earth drillers, except oil and gas the Texas median is $58,700, ranking 30 of 48 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 227 of 493 occupations in Texas by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Because Texas sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for earth drillers, except oil and gas — median $58,700 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $49,345 retained, $50,780 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $60,000 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,170 |
| This salary | $58,700 |
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 | $49,345 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $49,345 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,081 |
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 | $58,700 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,967 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Texas earn less than $58,700. The published range is $39,210 up to $80,170, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Texas the take-home figure of $49,345, from $58,700, 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 227 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $50,780, the adjusted value of that $58,700 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 227 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for earth drillers, except oil and gas in Texas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,210 to $80,170. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Texas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $49,345 from $58,700. 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 227 of 493 locally.
- This $50,780 adjusted figure, worked from $58,700, 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 227 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 227 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $39,210 and the top tenth $80,170, so most people doing this work in Texas sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $50,780 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $49,345 survives, because Texas levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($39,210 to $80,170) 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 $50,780 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 $49,345 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.