Harris County · Texas
Houston, TX jobs and wages
Who works here, what they earn, and which industries carry the local economy — Census ACS estimates for the city itself, not the wider metro.
Quick answer
Workers in Houston, TX earn a median of $39,664 a year, 11% below the national median of $44,587. Unemployment is 6.7% against 5.2% nationally, and education, health care & social assistance is the largest employer at 20.1% of jobs.
- Median earnings
- $39,664#69 of 94 metros
- Unemployment rate
- 6.7%US 5.2%
- Labor force participation
- 67.1%US 63.5%
- People employed
- 1,136,791Civilian employed, age 16+
What Houston does for a living
Share of the civilian employed population by industry, largest first.
- Education, health care & social assistance20.1%
- Professional, scientific & management15.4%
- Construction11%
- Retail trade10.1%
- Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation & food9.1%
- Manufacturing7.6%
- Transportation, warehousing & utilities6.7%
- Finance, insurance & real estate6.2%
- Other services, except public administration5.1%
- Wholesale trade2.7%
- Agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting & mining2.5%
- Public administration2.5%
- Information1%
Related data for Houston
Earnings only mean something next to what things cost.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates
Tables B23025, B20002 and C24030, 2019-2023 ACS 5-year. Industry shares combine the male and female columns of C24030 and are rounded, so they may not total exactly 100%.