Nursing Assistant (CNA) Salary in Texas: Pay by Experience, City & Take-Home

A certified nursing assistant in Texas earns a median of $37,500 a year, or about $18.03 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025). Most CNAs in the state land between $30,620 (the bottom 10 percent) and $47,500 (the top 10 percent). Texas has no state income tax, so more of that paycheck stays with you than in most states.

How Texas CNA pay compares to the national median

The national median for nursing assistants is $42,260 a year, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025). Texas sits below that at $37,500, a gap of $4,760, or roughly 11 percent under the national figure. On an hourly basis, the Texas median of $18.03 trails the national pace by a similar margin.

One more reference point: the Texas median of $37,500 lands between the state’s own 25th percentile of $35,300 and its 75th percentile of $43,070. So a typical Texas CNA sits comfortably inside the middle of the pack, with real room to move up toward the experienced band without ever leaving the state. The national median of $42,260, by comparison, falls near the Texas 75th percentile, which means a top-quartile Texas CNA already earns close to the national midpoint for the role.

That headline gap tells only part of the story. Texas does not tax wages, so the spread on take-home pay is narrower than the gross numbers suggest. A CNA in a high-tax state can earn a bigger paycheck on paper and keep less of it after state withholding. The cost of living in most Texas metros also runs below the coastal averages, which stretches each dollar of that $37,500 further than the same salary would go in California or New York. We put hard numbers on that in the take-home section below.

Texas also runs one of the largest CNA workforces in the country. The state employs about 88,680 nursing assistants, a deep job market spread across hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living, and home health agencies. A large employment base usually means steady hiring and more room to switch employers for a raise without relocating.

It helps to read the gap two ways. The Texas mean wage of $38,780 sits slightly above the state median of $37,500, which tells you the distribution leans a little toward the top end: a band of higher-paid CNAs, likely in hospitals and specialty units, pulls the average up above the midpoint. The full Texas range spans from $30,620 at the 10th percentile to $47,500 at the 90th, a spread of $16,880 between the bottom and top deciles. That spread is the real opportunity here. The difference between a low-paying long-term-care job and a well-staffed hospital floor inside the same state is larger than the difference between the Texas and national medians, and you can capture it without moving across the country.

Texas CNA salary by experience level

Pay climbs with time on the floor, shift differentials, and the setting you work in. The BLS percentile bands give a clean read on the full range. Entry-level CNAs cluster near the 10th percentile, while seasoned aides who pick up nights, weekends, or specialty units push toward the 90th.

The move from entry to senior is about $16,880 a year, or roughly 55 percent over the entry figure. Most of that lift comes from three things: staying in the field long enough to reach a top pay step, working in higher-paying settings like hospitals rather than long-term care, and stacking shift differentials. A CNA who logs consistent night and weekend hours can sit well above the median even early in a career.

Look at the steps between bands and you can see where the money actually moves. Going from entry (10th, $30,620) to early career (25th, $35,300) adds about $4,680, the reward for getting past the first year and proving you stick. From early career to the median is a smaller step of $2,200, which is where many CNAs plateau if they stay in the same setting. The next jump, from median to experienced (75th, $43,070), is the big one at $5,570, and it almost always reflects a change in setting or a move into differential-heavy schedules. The final climb to senior (90th, $47,500) adds another $4,430. Read together, the pattern is clear: pay growth is not smooth, it comes in two steps, the first year and the move into higher-value work.

On an hourly basis the same ladder runs from about $14.72 at entry to $22.84 at the senior level. An extra $8 an hour over a 2,080-hour year is the $16,880 gap restated. For a CNA picking up overtime or premium weekend hours, the practical hourly rate can sit above the band the base salary implies, which is why two aides with the same job title and the same years of service can take home noticeably different pay.

CNA pay in the five largest Texas metros

Where you work inside Texas changes the number more than most people expect. The Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin markets pay the most among the big metros, while El Paso sits at the bottom of this group. Here are the median figures for the five largest Texas metro areas by CNA employment, per BLS (2025).

Austin posts the top median of this group at $38,550, just ahead of Dallas-Fort Worth at $38,530. The gap from the highest metro (Austin) to the lowest (El Paso) is $3,380 a year for the same job title. That said, the higher-paying metros also carry higher rents, so the El Paso number is not as far behind on real spending power as it looks. Dallas-Fort Worth alone employs 23,420 CNAs, the densest market in the state and the best place to shop competing offers.

Three of the five big metros pay above the state median of $37,500: Dallas-Fort Worth at +$1,030, Austin at +$1,050, and Houston at +$470. San Antonio runs $700 under the state line and El Paso $2,330 under. The two markets that pay below the median, San Antonio and El Paso, also tend to carry the lowest housing costs in this group, so the gross gap overstates the difference in what a paycheck actually buys. The flip side is that the top-paying metros are also the fastest-growing, which keeps upward pressure on wages as facilities compete for staff.

Employment concentration matters as much as the median when you are job hunting. Dallas-Fort Worth (23,420 jobs) and Houston (19,230 jobs) together account for 42,650 CNA positions, just under half of the statewide total of 88,680. San Antonio adds 7,080 and Austin 5,600. El Paso, at 2,310 positions, is a thinner market, which means fewer competing offers to play against each other even before you factor in its lower median. If maximizing pay is the goal, the data points to the Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin corridors, where high medians meet a dense supply of openings.

Take-home pay after tax in Texas

Gross salary is the headline; take-home is what hits your bank account. Texas charges no state income tax, so a CNA’s only mandatory deductions are federal income tax and FICA (Social Security and Medicare). The table below runs the BLS percentile points through 2026 single-filer assumptions with the standard deduction.

At the median, a Texas CNA keeps about $32,170 of a $37,500 salary, an effective tax rate near 14.2 percent. That works out to roughly $2,681 a month and $1,237 every two weeks. The state-tax column reads $0 all the way down, which is the quiet advantage of working in Texas.

The effective rate climbs gently as pay rises, from about 13.0 percent at the entry level to 15.4 percent at the senior level, because more income crosses into higher federal brackets while FICA stays flat as a share of wages. At entry, a CNA on $30,620 takes home $26,642, about $2,220 a month. At the experienced 75th percentile of $43,070, take-home is $36,645, or roughly $3,054 a month. At the senior 90th percentile of $47,500, net pay reaches $40,205, about $3,350 a month. The full monthly take-home spread from entry to senior is $1,130, which is the after-tax version of the $16,880 gross gap from the experience section. FICA, the Social Security and Medicare slice, runs from $2,342 at entry to $3,634 at the senior level, and that piece is unavoidable in every state.

Here is the comparison an AI overview will not run for you. Take a CNA earning the Texas median of $37,500 and place the same gross salary in California, a high-tax state. The Texas worker nets $32,170. The California worker, after state income tax, nets about $31,509. That is a take-home gap of $661 a year in favor of Texas on identical gross pay, before you even account for California’s far higher housing costs. The no-tax structure quietly hands a Texas aide an extra paycheck’s worth of spending money compared with a high-tax state.

The number that actually decides how you live is net pay minus local housing. A San Antonio CNA paying lower rent on a $36,800 median can come out ahead of an Austin CNA on $38,550 once the rent check clears, even though Austin’s gross looks better. Run your own figure, with your filing status and any pretax benefits, through the Texas paycheck calculator before you judge an offer. If you want your withholding and refund mapped out for the full year, tools like TurboTax walk through it line by line.

ThePayGuide may earn a commission from links on this page at no cost to you. See our editorial policy.

How to earn more as a CNA in Texas

The jump from the median ($37,500) to the 90th percentile ($47,500) is real money, about $10,000 a year, and it is reachable without leaving the field. To put that in context, $10,000 is more than double the $4,760 gap that separates the Texas median from the national median, so moving up the percentile ladder inside Texas pays off more than chasing a higher-cost state would. Concrete ways to get there in Texas:

• Work shift differentials. Nights, weekends, and holidays pay a premium at most hospitals and nursing homes. Stacking these is the fastest way to move from the 50th toward the 75th percentile without a new credential.
• Move into a hospital setting. Acute-care hospitals generally pay above long-term care and assisted living. The same certification earns more on a hospital floor than in a skilled nursing facility.
• Add specialty skills. Phlebotomy, EKG, telemetry, or restorative-aide training make you more valuable and open higher pay steps. Short certificate courses on Coursera can build the foundation while you keep working.
• Target the higher-paying metros. Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth medians run roughly $1,000 above the state median. If you can commute or relocate within Texas, that gap repeats every year.
• Bridge to LVN or RN. The biggest pay jump comes from climbing the clinical ladder. Many Texas CNAs use the role as a paid foothold while completing a licensed vocational nurse or registered nurse program, which moves pay into a different bracket entirely.
• Negotiate at hire and at review. A deep market like Texas, with 88,680 CNA jobs, gives you room to bring competing offers to the table. Employers facing chronic staffing gaps will often match to keep you.

Job outlook for CNAs in Texas

Texas runs one of the deepest CNA labor markets in the country, with about 88,680 nursing assistants employed statewide, per BLS (2025). An aging population and a steady stream of new hospitals, nursing homes, and home-health agencies keep demand high, especially in the fast-growing Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin corridors. Turnover in long-term care is high, which is hard on staff but means openings are nearly always available for certified candidates.

Dallas-Fort Worth (23,420 jobs) and Houston (19,230 jobs) together hold roughly half the state’s CNA employment, so the thickest hiring happens there. San Antonio (7,080), Austin (5,600), and El Paso (2,310) round out the five biggest metros, but CNA jobs exist in nearly every county, since long-term care and home health reach into rural Texas as well. The combination of a large installed base of 88,680 positions and steady turnover means a certified, reliable aide rarely has to wait long for the next role. When you are ready to compare openings and pay across settings, a board like ZipRecruiter lets you filter by metro and facility type to find the best-paying shifts near you.

Related and higher-paying roles in Texas

A CNA job is a strong entry point into Texas healthcare, and the certification already pays a premium over uncertified care work. Where it leads next depends on how far you want to climb the clinical ladder. If you are weighing where a CNA role can lead, here is how two adjacent Texas healthcare jobs compare to the nursing assistant median of $37,500, using BLS (2025) state medians:

• Clinical Laboratory Technologist earns a median of $59,290 in Texas, which is $21,790 MORE than a nursing assistant in Texas. This is a common upskill target for aides who prefer lab work over bedside care.
• Home Health and Personal Care Aide earns a median of $24,230 in Texas, which is $13,270 LESS than a nursing assistant in Texas. The CNA certification carries a clear pay premium over uncertified aide work.

The two roles bracket the CNA position on either side. A home health and personal care aide sits $13,270 below, which shows the dollar value of holding the certification rather than working uncertified. A clinical laboratory technologist sits $21,790 above, which shows the payoff of additional schooling for aides who would rather work in a lab than at the bedside. Between those two markers, a nursing assistant role gives you a paid position to build experience while deciding which direction to take. Many Texas CNAs treat the job as exactly that, a stable foothold with regular hours that funds the next credential.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) 2025; federal and FICA tax tables for the 2026 tax year. Last updated 2026. See our methodology.