Massage Therapists in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,884
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$9,486
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,334
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
$59,370
Kept after tax
$49,884
Worth in national money
$51,334
State rank
26
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Texas is 26 of 50 states for massage therapists, with a middle wage of $59,370. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Massage therapists ranks 220 among 493 occupations Texas publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $59,370, take-home of $49,884 is worth roughly $51,334 in national money. The average comes to $65,060, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Texas ranks 26 of 50 for massage therapists at $59,370. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 220 of 493 in Texas places massage therapists 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 massage therapists, whose median is $59,370, the adjusted figure of $51,334 differs little from $49,884 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $65,060 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Massage Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,970 |
| This salary | $59,370 |
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 | $49,884 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $49,884 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,115 |
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 | $59,370 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,010 |
| 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 massage therapists in Texas earn under $59,370 and half over. The published range runs $34,870 at the tenth percentile to $109,970 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Texas's $49,884, worked from $59,370. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 220 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $51,334 uses one figure for the whole of Texas. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 220.
- Figures are distribution medians for massage therapists in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,870 to $109,970; 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.
- The Texas take-home of $49,884, on $59,370 for work ranking 220 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 220 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $51,334, worked from $59,370, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Texas address, on work sitting at 220 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $65,060, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $34,870 and the top tenth $109,970 — 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 $51,334 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $49,884 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?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $65,060. 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 ($34,870) and the ninetieth ($109,970) 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 $51,334 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 $49,884 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.