Graphic Designers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,511
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$9,639
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,979
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
$60,150
Kept after tax
$50,511
Worth in national money
$51,979
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Texas pays graphic designers around $60,150 at the midpoint, 23 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Graphic designers ranks 211 among 493 occupations Texas publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $60,150, take-home of $50,511 is worth roughly $51,979 in national money. The average comes to $62,570, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For graphic designers the Texas median is $60,150, ranking 23 of 51 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.
- Position 211 of 493 in Texas places graphic designers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Price parity in Texas is near the national base, so for graphic designers, whose median is $60,150, the adjusted figure of $51,979 differs little from $50,511 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $62,570 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Graphic Designers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,910 |
| This salary | $60,150 |
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 | $50,511 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $50,511 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,154 |
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 | $60,150 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,061 |
| 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 graphic designers in Texas earn under $60,150 and half over. The published range runs $36,340 at the tenth percentile to $92,910 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $50,511 take-home in Texas comes from $60,150. 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 211 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $51,979, the adjusted value of that $60,150 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 211 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for graphic designers in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,340 to $92,910; 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.
- Retained pay of $50,511, from $60,150, 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 211 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $51,979 — the adjusted value of that $60,150 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 211 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $62,570 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $36,340 and the top tenth $92,910 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Texas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $51,979 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $50,511 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?
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 $62,570. 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 ($36,340) and the ninetieth ($92,910) 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 $51,979 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 $50,511 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.