Prepress Technicians and Workers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,042
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$5,368
14.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,003
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
$38,410
Kept after tax
$33,042
Worth in national money
$34,003
State rank
42
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is among the lower-paying states for prepress technicians and workers. The middle earner takes $38,410, ranking 42 of 45 states — about 21.11% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Texas, this one sits low: 403 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $38,410, tax leaves $33,042, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $34,003 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $42,140, since top earners drag the number up.
- Texas ranks 42 of 45 for prepress technicians and workers, with a median of $38,410 — about 21.11% 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.
- Prepress technicians and workers occupies position 403 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.
- Because Texas sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for prepress technicians and workers — median $38,410 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $33,042 retained, $34,003 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $42,140 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Prepress Technicians and Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,210 |
| This salary | $38,410 |
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 | $33,042 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $33,042 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,063 |
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 | $38,410 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,656 |
| 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 prepress technicians and workers in Texas earn under $38,410 and half over. The published range runs $30,590 at the tenth percentile to $57,210 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $33,042 take-home in Texas comes from $38,410. 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 403 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,003 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 403.
- Figures are distribution medians for prepress technicians and workers in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,590 to $57,210; 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 $33,042, from $38,410, 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 403 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 42 of 45 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,003, worked from $38,410, 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 403 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 $42,140, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $30,590 and the top tenth $57,210, so most people doing this work in Texas sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $34,003 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $33,042 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $42,140. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($30,590 to $57,210) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Texas rather than a national figure.
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 $34,003 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 $33,042 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.