How are Texas Truck Driver 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 many Truck Drivers does Texas employ?

BLS OES counts 212,700 Truck Drivers 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 Truck Driver 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.

How wide is the wage spread in Texas?

P10 to P90 spans $36,620 to $78,470. 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.

OTR vs regional vs local truck driver pay in Texas?

BLS aggregates Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers (53-3032) into one figure. In Texas, OTR (over-the-road, multi-week trips) typically pays the highest gross — $65-90K range with experience — but on a real per-hour basis once away-from-home time is counted, regional (home weekly) and local/dedicated (home daily) routes often net comparable take-home. Local LTL and dedicated-fleet routes in Texas frequently pay above the BLS median when union-represented (Teamsters).

Truck Driver Pay in Texas: $53K Median + Purchasing Power (2026)

TL;DR

Median Truck Driver salary in Texas: $53,070 nominal, $54,632 real (BEA RPP basis).
Wage envelope: $36,620 (P10) to $78,470 (P90), with quartiles at $45,230 and $63,910.
BEA RPP near 100 means nominal pay translates almost 1:1 into real take-home.
On a real-wage basis, this state sits at #43 of 51; nominal rank is #39.

Wage breakdown — Texas

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$36,620	$37,698
P25 (lower quartile)	$45,230	$46,562
P50 (median)	$53,070	$54,632
P75 (upper quartile)	$63,910	$65,792
P90 (top tier)	$78,470	$80,780
Mean	$56,470	$58,133
Employment	212,700 Truck Drivers 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 (Truck Driver)	$53,070	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$4,230	8.0% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	$0	no state income tax
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$4,060	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$44,780	84.4% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$46,098	÷ (97.1 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

What the Texas state-tax burden means for Truck Driver take-home

Texas levies no state income tax on wages, which is worth roughly $2,654 a year for a Truck Driver at the BLS median compared with the national-average state burden (≈5%). After the favorable cost of living, real take-home is $46,098 — 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 $57,440 for Truck Drivers with mean pay of $58,400 and total employment of 2,070,480. Texas sits at #39 on nominal pay and #43 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, Texas falls 4 positions — the cost premium eats into the headline wage.

Frequently asked questions

How are Texas Truck Driver 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 many Truck Drivers does Texas employ?: BLS OES counts 212,700 Truck Drivers 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 Truck Driver 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.
How wide is the wage spread in Texas?: P10 to P90 spans $36,620 to $78,470. 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.
OTR vs regional vs local truck driver pay in Texas?: BLS aggregates Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers (53-3032) into one figure. In Texas, OTR (over-the-road, multi-week trips) typically pays the highest gross — $65-90K range with experience — but on a real per-hour basis once away-from-home time is counted, regional (home weekly) and local/dedicated (home daily) routes often net comparable take-home. Local LTL and dedicated-fleet routes in Texas frequently pay above the BLS median when union-represented (Teamsters).

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 53-3032, 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 Truck Driver 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.