Jobs and pay in Texas

The highest-paying occupations in Texas

Sorted by median annual wage — the midpoint of what people in the occupation are paid in this state, not what a newcomer earns. Occupations BLS did not release a wage for are absent rather than shown as zero.

1 further occupation is paid more than every figure below, but BLS publishes it only as $239,200 or more, its reporting cap: pediatric surgeons. They cannot be ranked against each other, so they are named here rather than listed as identical rows.

1. Cardiologists$410,150
2. Neurologists$360,640
3. Physicians, pathologists$345,830
4. Ophthalmologists, except pediatric$323,010
5. Radiologists$319,320
6. Emergency medicine physicians$316,830
7. Dentists, all other specialists$286,510
8. Obstetricians and gynecologists$271,960
9. Physicians, all other$269,800
10. General internal medicine physicians$269,110
11. Chief executives$257,850
12. Nurse anesthetists$244,990
13. Family medicine physicians$235,710
14. Psychiatrists$228,460
15. Surgeons, all other$222,820
16. Dermatologists$218,670
17. Anesthesiologists$215,230
18. Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers$215,150
19. Orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric$200,780
20. Physicists$184,040
21. Podiatrists$175,520
22. Pediatricians, general$173,360
23. Computer and information systems managers$171,530
24. Architectural and engineering managers$171,370
25. Air traffic controllers$170,080

Where the jobs actually are in Texas

The same list sorted by how many people are employed in each occupation, which is a different question from what it pays and usually a more useful one. High pay in an occupation employing 400 people statewide is a narrower opportunity than it looks.

1. Fast food and counter workers460,530 employed
2. General and operations managers431,310 employed
3. Retail salespersons341,640 employed
4. Customer service representatives337,170 employed
5. Home health and personal care aides329,590 employed
6. Stockers and order fillers322,710 employed
7. Registered nurses271,380 employed
8. Cashiers245,730 employed
9. Office clerks, general218,470 employed
10. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand216,970 employed
11. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers209,680 employed
12. Waiters and waitresses199,610 employed
13. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners184,840 employed
14. Software developers163,880 employed
15. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers160,600 employed
16. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive149,650 employed
17. Maintenance and repair workers, general140,580 employed
18. Project management specialists138,960 employed
19. First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers137,930 employed
20. Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel135,030 employed
21. Cooks, restaurant126,620 employed
22. Construction laborers123,250 employed
23. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks122,400 employed
24. Accountants and auditors116,470 employed
25. Elementary school teachers, except special education116,260 employed

The best-paid Texas work that typically needs no bachelor's degree

Occupations BLS reports as typically entered with an associate's degree, a postsecondary certificate, some college, a high-school diploma, or no formal credential — sorted by what they pay here. Typical is not a requirement, individual employers set their own, and many of these carry state licensing that the national figure does not capture.

1. Air traffic controllers$170,080 · Associate's degree
2. Commercial pilots$137,960 · Postsecondary nondegree award
3. Ship engineers$127,810 · Postsecondary nondegree award
4. Nuclear technicians$124,060 · Associate's degree
5. Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels$111,390 · Postsecondary nondegree award
6. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$111,000 · High school diploma or equivalent
7. Court reporters and simultaneous captioners$110,080 · Postsecondary nondegree award
8. Gambling managers$106,670 · High school diploma or equivalent
9. Radiation therapists$105,770 · Associate's degree
10. Power distributors and dispatchers$102,890 · High school diploma or equivalent
11. Chemical plant and system operators$102,750 · High school diploma or equivalent
12. Power plant operators$102,510 · High school diploma or equivalent
13. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay$102,470 · Postsecondary nondegree award
14. Elevator and escalator installers and repairers$102,140 · High school diploma or equivalent
15. Transportation inspectors$101,440 · High school diploma or equivalent
16. Nuclear medicine technologists$101,170 · Associate's degree
17. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$100,700 · High school diploma or equivalent
18. Dental hygienists$99,240 · Associate's degree
19. Postmasters and mail superintendents$97,550 · High school diploma or equivalent
20. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$96,780 · Associate's degree
21. Diagnostic medical sonographers$92,580 · Associate's degree
22. Detectives and criminal investigators$90,510 · High school diploma or equivalent
23. Hydrologic technicians$88,400 · Associate's degree
24. Electrical and electronics installers and repairers, transportation equipment$86,520 · Postsecondary nondegree award
25. Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers$85,990 · High school diploma or equivalent

A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one. CampusPin publishes the national picture of pay by entry education and which fields are actually awarded as certificates rather than degrees.

What Texas does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of Texas employment divided by its share of U.S. employment. 2.0 means twice as concentrated here as nationally. It describes where the work IS — not what it pays, and not how easy it is to be hired. Limited to occupations employing at least 500 people in the state, so a tiny base cannot manufacture a large ratio.

Wellhead pumpers lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

Other states