Photographers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,348
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$5,932
14.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,376
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
$41,280
Kept after tax
$35,348
Worth in national money
$36,376
State rank
25
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas sits in the middle of the pack for photographers. The median is $41,280, ranking 25 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Texas, this one sits low: 378 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $41,280 the take-home is $35,348, which is worth about $36,376 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $43,720, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas occupies the middle band for photographers: a median of $41,280, ranking 25 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Photographers occupies position 378 of 493 in Texas's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for photographers on its $41,280 median: $35,348 retained after tax becomes $36,376 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $43,720 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Photographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,720 |
| This salary | $41,280 |
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 | $35,348 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $35,348 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,207 |
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 | $41,280 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,842 |
| 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 $41,280. The published range is $24,910 up to $62,720, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Texas's $35,348, worked from $41,280. 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 378 of 493.
- Two cautions on $36,376, the adjusted value of that $41,280 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 378 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for photographers in Texas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $24,910 to $62,720. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Texas take-home of $35,348, on $41,280 for work ranking 378 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 378 of 493 in the state.
- This $36,376 adjusted figure, worked from $41,280, 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 378 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 378 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $43,720, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $24,910 at the bottom tenth to $62,720 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $36,376.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $35,348 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 49 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 $43,720. 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 ($24,910) and the ninetieth ($62,720) 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 $36,376 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 $35,348 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.