How are Texas Accountant salaries calculated on this page?

Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.

What does the top of the Accountant pay scale look like in Texas?

The 90th percentile lands at $132,550. That tier typically reflects senior roles, specialty certifications, high-cost-of-living metros within the state, or union-negotiated rate cards. Below that, the P75 quartile is $102,120.

How many Accountants does Texas employ?

BLS OES counts 109,530 Accountants employed in Texas in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.

Where does Texas rank for Accountant pay?

On nominal BLS wages alone, Texas ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.

What are the limits of these Accountant salary numbers?

BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.

When does this data update?

BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.

Does CPA licensure raise accountant pay in Texas?

BLS aggregates accountants and auditors under SOC 13-2011 — CPA-licensed and non-CPA pay are not split. In practice, CPA-licensed accountants in Texas typically earn 10-20% above the all-accountant median, and the gap widens at the senior/manager level where CPA is functionally required for partner-track public accounting and CFO roles. Texas requires 150 semester hours of education to sit for the exam (the AICPA Uniform CPA standard).

Texas Accountant Salary: BLS $80K Median, Real $82K (2026)

TL;DR

Headline Accountant pay in Texas is $80,000. Real take-home, after the state's cost-of-living index, lands at $82,355.
State ranks #19 nationally on nominal wage, #26 on real (RPP-adjusted) wage.
Cost adjustment is small — neither an arbitrage state nor a high-cost penalty.
Quartile range $63,540 (bottom 25%) to $102,120 (top 25%); the P10-P90 envelope is $51,810 to $132,550.

Wage breakdown — Texas

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$51,810	$53,335
P25 (lower quartile)	$63,540	$65,411
P50 (median)	$80,000	$82,355
P75 (upper quartile)	$102,120	$105,127
P90 (top tier)	$132,550	$136,453
Mean	$89,860	$92,506
Employment	109,530 Accountants in Texas

Cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parity

Component	Texas index (US = 100)
All-items RPP	97.1
Goods	98.1
Services	92.4
Rents	97.5

Texas's overall RPP (97.1) is close to the national 100 baseline; nominal and real wage move roughly together.

After-tax take-home — Texas (2024 BLS · 2024 tax year, single filer)

Layer-by-layer take-home math at the BLS median

Layer	Amount	Note
Gross BLS P50 (Accountant)	$80,000	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$8,847	11.1% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	$0	no state income tax
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$6,120	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$65,033	81.3% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$66,948	÷ (97.1 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

What the Texas state-tax burden means for Accountant take-home

Texas levies no state income tax on wages, which is worth roughly $4,000 a year for a Accountant at the BLS median compared with the national-average state burden (≈5%). After the favorable cost of living, real take-home is $66,948 — higher than the nominal after-tax figure because RPP is below 100.

Computed from 2026 IRS federal brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), 2026 state DOR brackets, and 2026 FICA rates. Single filer, standard deduction, no other adjustments. See methodology · tax for limitations (married filers, ITM/SALT itemizers, retirement deferrals, HSA, dependent credits, etc.).

National context

Across the United States, BLS reports a national median of $81,680 for Accountants with mean pay of $93,520 and total employment of 1,448,290. Texas sits at #19 on nominal pay and #26 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, Texas falls 7 positions — the cost premium eats into the headline wage.

Frequently asked questions

How are Texas Accountant salaries calculated on this page?: Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.
What does the top of the Accountant pay scale look like in Texas?: The 90th percentile lands at $132,550. That tier typically reflects senior roles, specialty certifications, high-cost-of-living metros within the state, or union-negotiated rate cards. Below that, the P75 quartile is $102,120.
How many Accountants does Texas employ?: BLS OES counts 109,530 Accountants employed in Texas in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.
Where does Texas rank for Accountant pay?: On nominal BLS wages alone, Texas ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.
What are the limits of these Accountant salary numbers?: BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.
When does this data update?: BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.
Does CPA licensure raise accountant pay in Texas?: BLS aggregates accountants and auditors under SOC 13-2011 — CPA-licensed and non-CPA pay are not split. In practice, CPA-licensed accountants in Texas typically earn 10-20% above the all-accountant median, and the gap widens at the senior/manager level where CPA is functionally required for partner-track public accounting and CFO roles. Texas requires 150 semester hours of education to sit for the exam (the AICPA Uniform CPA standard).

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 13-2011, 2024 reference period.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities, 2023 vintage (all-items, goods, services, rents).
Real-wage figures = nominal BLS wage ÷ (state RPP / 100).
See the methodology page for full computation details and limitations.

By Marcus Liang · Founder & Editor · Last synced 2026-05-05.

Cross-comparison: see how Texas Accountant pay ranks against the other 254 state × occupation pages on the Real Wage Atlas → — four-way ranking by real wage, after-tax take-home, state-tax savings, and cost-of-living arbitrage.