Retail Salespersons in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,928
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$3,872
12.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,711
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
$30,800
Kept after tax
$26,928
Worth in national money
$27,711
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is among the lower-paying states for retail salespersons. The middle earner takes $30,800, ranking 43 of 51 states — about 13.02% 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: 468 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $30,800 the take-home is $26,928, which is worth about $27,711 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $34,050, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas ranks 43 of 51 for retail salespersons, with a median of $30,800 — about 13.02% 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.
- Retail salespersons occupies position 468 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 retail salespersons on its $30,800 median: $26,928 retained after tax becomes $27,711 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $34,050 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Retail Salespersons
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,080 |
| This salary | $30,800 |
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 | $26,928 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $26,928 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,681 |
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 | $30,800 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,165 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $30,800 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,330 and the ninetieth is $45,080 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Texas's $26,928, worked from $30,800. 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 468 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $27,711, the adjusted value of that $30,800 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 468 of 493 in the state.
- The Texas median of $30,800 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,330 to $45,080. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Texas take-home of $26,928, on $30,800 for work ranking 468 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 468 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $27,711 — the adjusted value of that $30,800 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 468 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 $34,050, 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 $23,330 and the top tenth $45,080, so most people doing this work in Texas sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Texas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $27,711 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $26,928 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.
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 $34,050. 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 ($23,330 to $45,080) 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 $27,711 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 $26,928 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.