Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,194
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$4,426
13.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,042
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
$33,620
Kept after tax
$29,194
Worth in national money
$30,042
State rank
44
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Texas. The middle earner gets $33,620. That is 44 of 46 states, and about 12.97% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 493 occupations Texas publishes, this job lands at 453. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $33,620, take-home of $29,194 is worth roughly $30,042 in national money. The average comes to $33,810, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For switchboard operators, including answering service, Texas sits in the lower band at $33,620, ranking 44 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 12.97%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Texas, this work ranks 453 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Price parity in Texas is near the national base, so for switchboard operators, including answering service, whose median is $33,620, the adjusted figure of $30,042 differs little from $29,194 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $33,810 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,620 |
| Top tenth earn over | $44,100 |
| This salary | $33,620 |
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 | $29,194 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $29,194 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,823 |
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 | $33,620 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,347 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of switchboard operators, including answering service in Texas earn under $33,620 and half over. The published range runs $24,140 at the tenth percentile to $44,100 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Texas's $29,194, worked from $33,620. 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 453 of 493.
- Two cautions on $30,042, the adjusted value of that $33,620 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Texas. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 453 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for switchboard operators, including answering service in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $24,140 to $44,100; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Texas take-home of $29,194, on $33,620 for work ranking 453 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 453 of 493 in the state.
- This $30,042 adjusted figure, worked from $33,620, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 453 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 453 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $24,140 and the top tenth $44,100, so most people doing this work in Texas sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $30,042 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $29,194 survives, because Texas levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($24,140 to $44,100) 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 $30,042 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 $29,194 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.