How are Texas Plumber 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.

How wide is the wage spread in Texas?

P10 to P90 spans $37,320 to $81,510. That spread captures entry-level to top-quartile pay, including specialty differentials and metro-area variance within the state.

Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for Texas?

The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within Texas.

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.

Union vs non-union plumber pay in Texas?

BLS does not split union from non-union compensation. In Texas, UA (United Association)-represented plumbers and pipefitters typically earn 20-40% above non-union median once health, pension, and annuity contributions are included. The premium is concentrated in industrial, commercial, and government project work; residential service plumbing in Texas is predominantly non-union. UA Local hall job boards in Texas are the cleanest reference for current scale and benefit values.

Service plumber vs new construction plumber in Texas — pay difference?

BLS aggregates plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters (47-2152) into one category. In Texas, residential service plumbers (drain cleaning, water heater replacement, repair calls) earn near or below BLS median; commission-based service models in Texas can produce above-median earnings for high-volume techs but with substantial variance. New-construction plumbing in Texas pays above median for pipefitter and steamfitter specialties on industrial and commercial projects, especially when union-rate prevailing-wage rules apply on government work.

How long is the Texas plumbing apprenticeship and what's the master plumber payback?

Texas typically requires 4-5 years (8,000-10,000 hours) of supervised on-the-job training plus 144+ classroom hours per year before the journeyman plumber exam. Master plumber licensure in Texas requires an additional 2-5 years post-journeyman plus a separate exam, and unlocks business ownership, permit-pulling authority, and significantly higher compensation — owner-operator master plumbers in Texas routinely earn 1.5-3× the BLS journeyman median once business profit is included. Apprenticeship pay starts at 40-60% of journeyman scale and ratchets up annually.

How Much Do Plumbers Make in Texas? $59K (2026 BLS + BEA)

TL;DR

BLS reports Texas Plumber median pay at $58,560. Adjusted for state cost of living, real purchasing power equals $60,284.
BLS percentile breakdown: P10 $37,320 · P25 $46,400 · P75 $72,390 · P90 $81,510.
BEA RPP near 100 means nominal pay translates almost 1:1 into real take-home.
Nominal: #39/51 · Real: #42/51 — ranking shifts by 3 positions after RPP.

Wage breakdown — Texas

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$37,320	$38,419
P25 (lower quartile)	$46,400	$47,766
P50 (median)	$58,560	$60,284
P75 (upper quartile)	$72,390	$74,521
P90 (top tier)	$81,510	$83,910
Mean	$59,500	$61,252
Employment	42,290 Plumbers 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 (Plumber)	$58,560	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$4,889	8.3% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	$0	no state income tax
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$4,480	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$49,191	84.0% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$50,639	÷ (97.1 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

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

Texas levies no state income tax on wages, which is worth roughly $2,928 a year for a Plumber at the BLS median compared with the national-average state burden (≈5%). After the favorable cost of living, real take-home is $50,639 — 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 $62,970 for Plumbers with mean pay of $69,940 and total employment of 455,940. Texas sits at #39 on nominal pay and #42 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, Texas falls 3 positions — the cost premium eats into the headline wage.

Frequently asked questions

How are Texas Plumber 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.
How wide is the wage spread in Texas?: P10 to P90 spans $37,320 to $81,510. That spread captures entry-level to top-quartile pay, including specialty differentials and metro-area variance within the state.
Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for Texas?: The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within Texas.
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.
Union vs non-union plumber pay in Texas?: BLS does not split union from non-union compensation. In Texas, UA (United Association)-represented plumbers and pipefitters typically earn 20-40% above non-union median once health, pension, and annuity contributions are included. The premium is concentrated in industrial, commercial, and government project work; residential service plumbing in Texas is predominantly non-union. UA Local hall job boards in Texas are the cleanest reference for current scale and benefit values.
Service plumber vs new construction plumber in Texas — pay difference?: BLS aggregates plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters (47-2152) into one category. In Texas, residential service plumbers (drain cleaning, water heater replacement, repair calls) earn near or below BLS median; commission-based service models in Texas can produce above-median earnings for high-volume techs but with substantial variance. New-construction plumbing in Texas pays above median for pipefitter and steamfitter specialties on industrial and commercial projects, especially when union-rate prevailing-wage rules apply on government work.
How long is the Texas plumbing apprenticeship and what's the master plumber payback?: Texas typically requires 4-5 years (8,000-10,000 hours) of supervised on-the-job training plus 144+ classroom hours per year before the journeyman plumber exam. Master plumber licensure in Texas requires an additional 2-5 years post-journeyman plus a separate exam, and unlocks business ownership, permit-pulling authority, and significantly higher compensation — owner-operator master plumbers in Texas routinely earn 1.5-3× the BLS journeyman median once business profit is included. Apprenticeship pay starts at 40-60% of journeyman scale and ratchets up annually.

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 47-2152, 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 2026-05-07.

Cross-comparison: see how Texas Plumber 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.