Tax Preparers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,314
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$7,146
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,486
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
$47,460
Kept after tax
$40,314
Worth in national money
$41,486
State rank
27
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Texas is 27 of 48 states for tax preparers, with a middle wage of $47,460. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Tax preparers ranks 311 among 493 occupations Texas publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $47,460, take-home of $40,314 is worth roughly $41,486 in national money. The average comes to $56,670, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Texas ranks 27 of 48 for tax preparers at $47,460. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 311 of 493 in Texas places tax preparers 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 tax preparers, whose median is $47,460, the adjusted figure of $41,486 differs little from $40,314 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $56,670 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,950 |
| This salary | $47,460 |
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 | $40,314 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $40,314 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,517 |
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 | $47,460 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,241 |
| 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 $47,460. The published range is $31,110 up to $86,950, 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 $40,314, worked from $47,460. 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 311 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $41,486 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 311.
- Reported values are medians; for tax preparers in Texas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,110 to $86,950. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Texas take-home of $40,314, on $47,460 for work ranking 311 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 311 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,486, worked from $47,460, 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 311 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $56,670, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,110 and the top tenth $86,950 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $41,486 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $40,314 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $56,670. 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 ($31,110) and the ninetieth ($86,950) 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 $41,486 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 $40,314 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.