Brownsville-Harlingen, TX

Across all occupations in the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX metropolitan area, the median wage is $36,490 a year ($17.54 an hour) and the mean $47,110, May 2025. That median is −28% against the US median of $50,980 and −25% against Texas's $48,620. BLS counts 157,450 jobs in the area. The highest-paying occupation is physicians, all other; the largest is home health and personal care aides.

All occupations: Brownsville-Harlingen, TX vs Texas and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX area, Texas and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX	Hourly	$10.68	$12.60	$17.54	$27.73	$39.09	$22.65	157,450
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX	Annual	$22,210	$26,210	$36,490	$57,690	$81,300	$47,110	157,450
Texas	Hourly	$13.10	$17.01	$23.38	$37.42	$60.20	$31.61	14,071,160
Texas	Annual	$27,250	$35,370	$48,620	$77,840	$125,220	$65,750	14,071,160
United States	Hourly	$15.00	$18.07	$24.51	$38.71	$61.81	$33.54	155,495,730
United States	Annual	$31,200	$37,590	$50,980	$80,520	$128,560	$69,770	155,495,730

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles across all occupations in the metro; the line marks the US median. The same numbers are in the table above.

311 detailed occupations publish a median in this area. State profile: Texas. Compare any occupation across every area in the wage explorer.

20 highest-paying occupations in Brownsville-Harlingen, TX

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Physicians, All Other	$330,890	$159.08	150
2	Family Medicine Physicians	$215,480	$103.60	80
3	Chief Executives	$178,860	$85.99	50
4	Pediatricians, General	$168,640	$81.08	50
5	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$157,160	$75.56	50
6	Computer and Information Systems Managers in Texas	$137,880	$66.29	180
7	Dentists, General	$134,550	$64.69	80
8	Pharmacists	$131,280	$63.12	240
9	Engineers, All Other	$129,990	$62.50	100
10	Financial Managers in Texas	$129,820	$62.42	320
11	Physician Assistants	$127,370	$61.24	200
12	Nurse Practitioners	$124,530	$59.87	300
13	Managers, All Other in Texas	$123,750	$59.50	480
14	Veterinarians	$120,940	$58.15	30
15	Marketing Managers	$113,220	$54.43	140
16	Industrial Production Managers	$110,830	$53.29	100
17	Human Resources Managers	$110,230	$52.99	130
18	Detectives and Criminal Investigators	$109,300	$52.55	880
19	Software Developers in Texas	$106,990	$51.44	310
20	Physical Therapists	$103,810	$49.91	280

Ranked by median; an occupation whose median BLS withholds or top-codes in this area cannot appear here, however well it pays.

20 largest occupations in Brownsville-Harlingen, TX

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Texas	21,990	139.64	5.04	$23,500
2	Fast Food and Counter Workers in Texas	6,570	41.73	1.68	$22,500
3	Customer Service Representatives in Texas	4,880	31.01	1.86	$38,350
4	Retail Salespersons in Texas	3,820	24.29	0.97	$27,780
5	General and Operations Managers in Texas	3,440	21.85	0.97	$75,350
6	Cashiers in Texas	3,420	21.69	1.09	$26,250
7	Stockers and Order Fillers in Texas	2,960	18.80	1.03	$34,680
8	Registered Nurses in Texas	2,930	18.61	0.86	$81,090
9	Office Clerks, General in Texas	2,900	18.39	1.16	$33,310
10	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Texas	2,490	15.80	1.11	$30,650
11	Waiters and Waitresses in Texas	2,430	15.42	1.06	$21,010
12	Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary in Texas	2,160	13.70	1.50	$36,710
13	Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Texas	1,970	12.54	1.83	$62,320
14	Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Texas	1,950	12.38	1.39	$63,350
15	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Texas	1,810	11.49	0.61	$32,300
16	Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Texas	1,760	11.16	1.02	$38,800
17	Maintenance and Repair Workers, General in Texas	1,750	11.14	1.13	$36,720
18	First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Texas	1,680	10.70	1.36	$29,670
19	Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Texas	1,660	10.56	0.80	$48,550
20	Child, Family, and School Social Workers	1,560	9.89	3.92	$40,580

Most concentrated occupations in Brownsville-Harlingen, TX

The 10 occupations with the highest location quotient among those employing at least 100 people in the area. A quotient of 2.00 means the occupation's share of local jobs is twice its national share.

Rank	Occupation	Location quotient	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Median annual
1	Detectives and Criminal Investigators	7.61	880	5.60	$109,300
2	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Texas	5.04	21,990	139.64	$23,500
3	Career/Technical Education Teachers, Secondary School	5.03	570	3.60	$62,260
4	Healthcare Support Workers, All Other	4.89	540	3.45	$40,660
5	Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other	4.71	920	5.82	$31,630
6	Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School	4.01	1,060	6.73	$61,440
7	Child, Family, and School Social Workers	3.92	1,560	9.89	$40,580
8	Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	2.61	140	0.88	$44,730
9	File Clerks	2.45	180	1.16	$31,440
10	Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary	2.42	800	5.10	$79,300

Occupation groups in Brownsville-Harlingen, TX

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$81,410	$99,300	9,140	58.03	0.81
Architecture and Engineering	$77,590	$85,310	1,480	9.39	0.56
Computer and Mathematical	$75,930	$82,560	1,700	10.78	0.32
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$74,760	$89,240	9,190	58.39	0.92
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$68,950	$73,820	770	4.87	0.51
Business and Financial Operations	$64,940	$73,400	5,780	36.72	0.54
Legal	$64,500	$88,830	810	5.15	0.61
Educational Instruction and Library	$61,440	$56,750	11,970	76.02	1.30
Protective Service	$51,060	$58,670	4,010	25.48	1.05
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$47,190	$57,440	740	4.68	0.36
Community and Social Service	$46,640	$51,550	4,110	26.13	1.52
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$45,190	$48,390	5,600	35.59	0.91
Construction and Extraction	$39,630	$43,820	3,050	19.39	0.47
Office and Administrative Support	$37,510	$39,500	20,010	127.12	1.11
Transportation and Material Moving	$35,450	$38,840	11,430	72.58	0.83
Production	$35,350	$39,440	5,660	35.93	0.65
Sales and Related	$30,150	$38,980	12,420	78.87	0.91
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$29,300	$31,900	4,130	26.21	0.90
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$28,510	$31,920	130	0.83	0.30
Personal Care and Service	$27,680	$31,370	2,290	14.57	0.70
Healthcare Support	$24,960	$26,590	26,080	165.66	3.26
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$24,110	$26,810	16,940	107.62	1.22

Every occupation in Texas, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profile. All 311 published occupations for this area are in the wage explorer; other metros are on the metros hub.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS Brownsville-Harlingen, TX estimates (area 15180).

*: Wage estimate not available.

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Jobs per 1,000 is the occupation's employment per 1,000 jobs in the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX area; the location quotient is that share divided by the national share.
The concentration table keeps only occupations with employment of 100 or more in the area, so a quotient built on a handful of rounded jobs cannot top it.