Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,179
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$8,091
15.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,463
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
$52,270
Kept after tax
$44,179
Worth in national money
$45,463
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Texas pays this job a middle wage of $52,270, 44 of 51 states and about 12.98% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Texas reports figures for, this is number 255.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $52,270, take-home of $44,179 is worth roughly $45,463 in national money. The average comes to $54,210, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Texas's $52,270 median for security and fire alarm systems installers places it 44 of 51 states, about 12.98% 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.
- In Texas's occupational distribution, security and fire alarm systems installers sits at 255 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Price parity in Texas is near the national base, so for security and fire alarm systems installers, whose median is $52,270, the adjusted figure of $45,463 differs little from $44,179 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $54,210 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,720 |
| This salary | $52,270 |
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 | $44,179 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $44,179 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,759 |
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 | $52,270 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,552 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $52,270 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,900 and the ninetieth is $75,720 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $44,179 take-home in Texas comes from $52,270. 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 255 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $45,463, the adjusted value of that $52,270 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 255 of 493 in the state.
- The Texas median of $52,270 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,900 to $75,720. 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 $44,179, from $52,270, 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 255 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $45,463 — the adjusted value of that $52,270 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 255 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 $54,210, 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 $36,900 at the bottom tenth to $75,720 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $45,463 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $44,179 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $54,210. 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 ($36,900) and the ninetieth ($75,720) 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 $45,463 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 $44,179 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.