Registered Nurses in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,345
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$19,625
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$78,564
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
$95,970
Kept after tax
$76,345
Worth in national money
$78,564
State rank
22
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas sits in the middle of the pack for registered nurses. The median is $95,970, ranking 22 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Texas. It ranks 82 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $95,970 the take-home is $76,345, which is worth about $78,564 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $95,380, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Texas occupies the middle band for registered nurses: a median of $95,970, ranking 22 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Within Texas, registered nurses ranks 82 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.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for registered nurses on its $95,970 median: $76,345 retained after tax becomes $78,564 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $95,380 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Registered Nurses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $67,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $95,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,950 |
| This salary | $95,970 |
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 | $76,345 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $76,345 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,767 |
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 | $95,970 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,010 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $95,970 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $67,120 and the ninetieth is $127,950 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $76,345 take-home in Texas comes from $95,970. 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 82 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $78,564, the adjusted value of that $95,970 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 82 of 493 in the state.
- The Texas median of $95,970 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $67,120 to $127,950. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $76,345, from $95,970, 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 82 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 22 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $78,564 — the adjusted value of that $95,970 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 82 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $67,120 and the top tenth $127,950, so most people doing this work in Texas sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $78,564.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $76,345 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?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($67,120 to $127,950) 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 $78,564 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 $76,345 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.