Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX

Across all occupations in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area, the median wage is $49,410 a year ($23.76 an hour) and the mean $67,610, May 2025. That median is −3% against the US median of $50,980 and +2% against Texas's $48,620. BLS counts 3,289,720 jobs in the area. The highest-paying occupation is dentists, all other specialists; the largest is fast food and counter workers.

All occupations: Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX vs Texas and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX area, Texas and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	Hourly	$13.17	$17.14	$23.76	$38.11	$61.56	$32.51	3,289,720
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	Annual	$27,380	$35,640	$49,410	$79,260	$128,040	$67,610	3,289,720
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.

702 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 Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Dentists, All Other Specialists	$389,520	$187.27	**
2	Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric	$320,450	$154.06	180
3	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$307,690	*	4,160
4	Physicians, All Other	$292,490	$140.62	7,010
5	Physicians, Pathologists	$291,510	$140.15	230
6	Neurologists	$277,960	$133.64	120
7	Nurse Anesthetists	$275,310	$132.36	680
8	Chief Executives	$275,270	$132.34	1,920
9	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$274,410	$131.93	1,030
10	Psychiatrists	$249,070	$119.74	420
11	Anesthesiologists	$210,230	$101.07	1,160
12	Dermatologists	$207,000	$99.52	370
13	Physicists	$199,770	$96.05	140
14	Cardiologists	$187,550	$90.17	460
15	Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers	$174,490	$83.89	2,380
16	Computer and Information Systems Managers in Texas	$172,160	$82.77	13,090
17	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$172,020	$82.70	5,330
18	Petroleum Engineers	$169,870	$81.67	4,770
19	Financial Managers in Texas	$166,910	$80.24	18,570
20	Lawyers in Texas	$157,980	$75.95	16,810

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 Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	Fast Food and Counter Workers in Texas	105,810	32.17	1.30	$27,570
2	General and Operations Managers in Texas	97,320	29.58	1.31	$119,600
3	Retail Salespersons in Texas	78,960	24.00	0.96	$31,340
4	Stockers and Order Fillers in Texas	72,970	22.18	1.22	$36,890
5	Registered Nurses in Texas	65,910	20.04	0.92	$99,830
6	Customer Service Representatives in Texas	65,510	19.91	1.19	$40,380
7	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Texas	63,820	19.40	0.70	$23,440
8	Cashiers in Texas	54,950	16.70	0.84	$29,350
9	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Texas	52,520	15.96	0.84	$38,000
10	Waiters and Waitresses in Texas	51,330	15.60	1.07	$22,080
11	Office Clerks, General in Texas	50,040	15.21	0.96	$40,370
12	Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Texas	49,750	15.12	1.14	$56,840
13	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Texas	48,880	14.86	1.05	$30,650
14	First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers in Texas	36,940	11.23	1.22	$65,990
15	Project Management Specialists in Texas	35,550	10.81	1.58	$99,510
16	Construction Laborers in Texas	34,080	10.36	1.47	$41,350
17	Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Texas	33,710	10.25	0.93	$46,750
18	Cooks, Restaurant in Texas	32,710	9.94	1.10	$35,050
19	Maintenance and Repair Workers, General in Texas	32,050	9.74	0.99	$46,710
20	First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Texas	31,290	9.51	1.21	$36,410

Most concentrated occupations in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, 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	Petroleum Engineers	12.50	4,770	1.45	$169,870
2	Wellhead Pumpers	10.15	3,860	1.17	$79,720
3	Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas	7.88	2,100	0.64	$79,450
4	Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers	7.85	5,510	1.67	$84,100
5	Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas	6.97	1,560	0.47	$62,910
6	Roustabouts, Oil and Gas	6.15	5,850	1.78	$47,260
7	Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas	5.92	5,400	1.64	$49,940
8	Calibration Technologists and Technicians	5.51	1,930	0.59	$78,610
9	Boilermakers	5.43	1,170	0.36	$77,090
10	Wind Turbine Service Technicians	5.30	1,120	0.34	$64,050

Occupation groups in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$126,630	$143,710	277,940	84.49	1.18
Legal	$105,240	$144,980	28,320	8.61	1.03
Computer and Mathematical	$102,720	$109,790	83,670	25.43	0.75
Architecture and Engineering	$101,430	$112,850	79,000	24.02	1.43
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$88,810	$104,620	188,810	57.39	0.91
Business and Financial Operations	$80,490	$91,600	203,140	61.75	0.91
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$80,470	$92,030	35,700	10.85	1.15
Educational Instruction and Library	$63,150	$65,820	198,030	60.20	1.03
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$59,170	$63,190	158,070	48.05	1.23
Community and Social Service	$58,800	$63,760	31,050	9.44	0.55
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$50,230	$64,890	30,690	9.33	0.71
Construction and Extraction	$49,920	$57,020	181,540	55.19	1.34
Protective Service	$48,880	$55,070	74,810	22.74	0.94
Production	$46,450	$53,070	177,980	54.10	0.98
Office and Administrative Support	$45,850	$49,200	379,010	115.21	1.01
Transportation and Material Moving	$43,570	$50,460	314,010	95.45	1.09
Sales and Related	$36,970	$52,880	270,110	82.11	0.95
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$35,310	$39,470	1,880	0.57	0.20
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$33,950	$34,810	88,660	26.95	0.92
Healthcare Support	$31,580	$35,000	129,270	39.30	0.77
Personal Care and Service	$31,200	$36,850	50,040	15.21	0.73
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$28,530	$30,570	307,980	93.62	1.06

Every occupation in Texas, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profile. All 702 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 Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX estimates (area 26420).

*: Wage estimate not available.
**: Employment 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 Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, 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.