Optometrists in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$97,387
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$28,613
22.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$100,218
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
$126,000
Kept after tax
$97,387
Worth in national money
$100,218
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Texas pays optometrists a middle wage of $126,000, 37 of 51 states and about 7.74% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Texas. It ranks 32 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $126,000, take-home of $97,387 is worth roughly $100,218 in national money. The average lands at $124,760, below the middle of the range.
- Texas's $126,000 median for optometrists places it 37 of 51 states, about 7.74% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Within Texas, optometrists ranks 32 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Price parity in Texas is near the national base, so for optometrists, whose median is $126,000, the adjusted figure of $100,218 differs little from $97,387 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $124,760 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Optometrists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $54,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $126,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $164,420 |
| This salary | $126,000 |
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 | $97,387 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $97,387 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,081 |
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 | $126,000 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,204 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $126,000 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $54,180 and the ninetieth is $164,420 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Texas the take-home figure of $97,387, from $126,000, 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 32 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $100,218, the adjusted value of that $126,000 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 32 of 493 locally.
- The Texas median of $126,000 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $54,180 to $164,420. 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 $97,387 from $126,000. 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 32 of 493 locally.
- This $100,218 adjusted figure, worked from $126,000, 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 32 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 32 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $54,180 and the top tenth $164,420 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $100,218.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $97,387 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?
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 ($54,180) and the ninetieth ($164,420) 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 $100,218 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 $97,387 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.