Structural Iron and Steel Workers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,155
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$8,085
15.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,438
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
$52,240
Kept after tax
$44,155
Worth in national money
$45,438
State rank
43
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Texas pays structural iron and steel workers a middle wage of $52,240, 43 of 50 states and about 16.79% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Structural iron and steel workers ranks 256 among 493 occupations Texas publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $52,240, take-home of $44,155 is worth roughly $45,438 in national money. The average comes to $56,740, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Texas's $52,240 median for structural iron and steel workers places it 43 of 50 states, about 16.79% 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.
- Position 256 of 493 in Texas places structural iron and steel workers 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 structural iron and steel workers, whose median is $52,240, the adjusted figure of $45,438 differs little from $44,155 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $56,740 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Structural Iron and Steel Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,520 |
| This salary | $52,240 |
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 | $44,155 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $44,155 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,757 |
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 | $52,240 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,550 |
| 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 $52,240. The published range is $42,160 up to $77,520, 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 $44,155, worked from $52,240. 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 256 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $45,438 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 256.
- Reported values are medians; for structural iron and steel workers in Texas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $42,160 to $77,520. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Texas take-home of $44,155, on $52,240 for work ranking 256 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 256 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $45,438, worked from $52,240, 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 256 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 $56,740, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $42,160 and the top tenth $77,520, 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 $45,438.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $44,155 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $56,740. 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 ($42,160 to $77,520) 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 $45,438 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 $44,155 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.