Technical Writers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,045
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$15,705
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,994
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
$82,750
Kept after tax
$67,045
Worth in national money
$68,994
State rank
26
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas sits in the middle of the pack for technical writers. The median is $82,750, ranking 26 of 45 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Within Texas this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, technical writers ranks 102 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $82,750 the take-home is $67,045, which is worth about $68,994 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $88,140, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas occupies the middle band for technical writers: a median of $82,750, ranking 26 of 45. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Ranked against every occupation Texas publishes a median for, technical writers sits 102 of 493 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for technical writers on its $82,750 median: $67,045 retained after tax becomes $68,994 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $88,140 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Technical Writers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,920 |
| This salary | $82,750 |
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 | $67,045 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $67,045 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,186 |
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 | $82,750 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,156 |
| 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 $82,750. The published range is $50,590 up to $127,920, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Texas the take-home figure of $67,045, from $82,750, 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 102 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $68,994, the adjusted value of that $82,750 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 102 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for technical writers in Texas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $50,590 to $127,920. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Texas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $67,045 from $82,750. 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 102 of 493 locally.
- This $68,994 adjusted figure, worked from $82,750, 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 102 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 102 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 $88,140, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $50,590 at the bottom tenth to $127,920 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $68,994 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $67,045 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?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $88,140. 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 ($50,590) and the ninetieth ($127,920) 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 $68,994 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 $67,045 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.