Slaughterers and Meat Packers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,859
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$6,301
14.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,931
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
$43,160
Kept after tax
$36,859
Worth in national money
$37,931
State rank
19
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Texas is 19 of 47 states for slaughterers and meat packers, with a middle wage of $43,160. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Slaughterers and meat packers ranks 366 among 493 occupations Texas publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $43,160, take-home of $36,859 is worth roughly $37,931 in national money. The average lands at $41,490, below the middle of the range.
- Texas ranks 19 of 47 for slaughterers and meat packers at $43,160. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 366 of 493 in Texas places slaughterers and meat packers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Price parity in Texas is near the national base, so for slaughterers and meat packers, whose median is $43,160, the adjusted figure of $37,931 differs little from $36,859 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $41,490 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Slaughterers and Meat Packers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,910 |
| This salary | $43,160 |
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 | $36,859 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $36,859 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,301 |
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 | $43,160 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,963 |
| 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 $43,160. The published range is $27,270 up to $49,910, 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 $36,859, worked from $43,160. 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 366 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $37,931, the adjusted value of that $43,160 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 366 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for slaughterers and meat packers in Texas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $27,270 to $49,910. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Texas take-home of $36,859, on $43,160 for work ranking 366 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 366 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $37,931 — the adjusted value of that $43,160 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 366 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 $41,490, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $27,270 at the bottom tenth to $49,910 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $37,931 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $36,859 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.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $41,490. 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 ($27,270 to $49,910) 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 $37,931 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 $36,859 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.