Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,451
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$10,359
16.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,005
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
$63,810
Kept after tax
$53,451
Worth in national money
$55,005
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $63,810, ranking 42 of 51 states — about 18.84% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Texas, this sits in the middle: 179 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $63,810 the take-home is $53,451, which is worth about $55,005 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $66,890, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas ranks 42 of 51 for stationary engineers and boiler operators, with a median of $63,810 — about 18.84% 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.
- Stationary engineers and boiler operators ranks 179 of 493 occupations in Texas by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for stationary engineers and boiler operators on its $63,810 median: $53,451 retained after tax becomes $55,005 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $66,890 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $90,190 |
| This salary | $63,810 |
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 | $53,451 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $53,451 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,337 |
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 | $63,810 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,525 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $63,810 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,250 and the ninetieth is $90,190 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Texas the take-home figure of $53,451, from $63,810, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 179 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $55,005 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 179.
- The Texas median of $63,810 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,250 to $90,190. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Texas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $53,451 from $63,810. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 179 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $55,005, worked from $63,810, 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 179 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 $66,890, 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 $48,250 at the bottom tenth to $90,190 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $55,005 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $53,451 survives, because Texas levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 $66,890. 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 ($48,250 to $90,190) 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 $55,005 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 $53,451 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.