Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,590
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$9,170
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,003
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
$57,760
Kept after tax
$48,590
Worth in national money
$50,003
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $57,760, ranking 38 of 51 states — about 5.33% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Texas reports figures for, this is number 234.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $57,760 the take-home is $48,590, which is worth about $50,003 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $59,130, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas ranks 38 of 51 for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers, with a median of $57,760 — about 5.33% 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.
- In Texas's occupational distribution, heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers sits at 234 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers on its $57,760 median: $48,590 retained after tax becomes $50,003 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $59,130 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,860 |
| This salary | $57,760 |
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 | $48,590 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $48,590 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,034 |
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 | $57,760 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,906 |
| 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 heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in Texas earn under $57,760 and half over. The published range runs $38,100 at the tenth percentile to $81,860 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Texas the take-home figure of $48,590, from $57,760, 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 234 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $50,003, the adjusted value of that $57,760 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 234 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,100 to $81,860; 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.
- Take-home for Texas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $48,590 from $57,760. 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 234 of 493 locally.
- This $50,003 adjusted figure, worked from $57,760, 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 234 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 234 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $38,100 at the bottom tenth to $81,860 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 $50,003 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $48,590 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($38,100) and the ninetieth ($81,860) 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 $50,003 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 $48,590 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.