Average Registered Nurse Salary in TexasNo State Income Tax

Texas is one of the largest employers of registered nurses in the country — Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS data places it second only to California for the number of RNs employed. The salary figures on this page reflect the most recent BLS release and are reviewed for the 2025–2026 period. Texas RN pay sits around or modestly above the national average in raw dollars, which is lower than California or the Northeast — but two factors make the real value of a Texas nursing paycheck stronger than the nominal number suggests.

The first is taxes: Texas has no state income tax, so a Texas RN keeps more of every dollar earned than a nurse making the same gross salary in a high-tax state. The second is cost of living — outside the priciest pockets of Austin, most of Texas costs less to live in than the coastal markets, so a nurse’s pay stretches further on housing, childcare, and everyday expenses. Together, these mean a Texas RN’s take-home buying power often rivals states with higher headline salaries.

Pay is highest in the big metros. The Houston area — anchored by the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world — along with Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio leads the state, while rural and smaller-metro regions pay less in dollar terms but cost far less to live in. All registered nurses must hold an active license from the Texas Board of Nursing; because Texas is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact, a Texas multistate license also lets nurses practice in other compact states. Specialty certifications (ICU, ER, OR, labor and delivery), overtime, night and weekend shift differentials, and travel-nursing contracts can add substantially to the base salaries shown below.