Nurse Practitioner Salary in Texas 2026, $131,670 Median | BLS Data by City
Texas pays nurse practitioners at almost exactly the national rate, takes no state income tax on it, and still has one of the most restrictive practice environments in the country — a combination that makes the rural premium here unusually large.
Updated July 2026 · BLS OEWS May 2025
Compiled by GlobalCybers Labor Market Research · Reviewed by Karen Osei, RN, BSN, Clinical Recruitment Lead · See methodology & sources →
TX Median
$131,670
$63.31/hr
vs National
−$630
level with US median
TX P90
$161,980
$77.88/hr · top earners
TX Job Growth
+40.1%
2024–2034 · national BLS EP 2024–34
🤑Texas levies no state income tax, which at this income level is worth a substantial amount every year compared with California or New York, where a nurse practitioner earning a similar gross figure loses a meaningful percentage to the state. That is the strongest financial argument for practising here, and it is largely why Texas competes for NPs despite a median that only matches the national one. The offset is property tax, which is high in Texas and falls on NPs as homeowners in the metros.
Direct Answer
How much do nurse practitioners make in Texas in 2026?
Texas nurse practitioners earn a median $131,670 a year, or $63.31 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, essentially level with the national median of $132,300 — and Texas withholds no state income tax on any of it. The range runs $96,880 to $161,980. The metro pattern is the interesting part: Midland tops the table at $146,610 and Killeen-Temple follows at $138,670, both well ahead of Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands at $134,560, because west Texas and rural markets pay a genuine recruitment premium. → Full nurse practitioner career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $131,670 blends every experience level, apprentice through master. For pay by license level alone, see pay by level below.
Key takeaways
Texas nurse practitioners earn a median $131,670/yr ($63.31/hr) per BLS OEWS May 2025 (SOC 29-1171), level with the $132,300 national median; the state P10–P90 range is $96,880 to $161,980.
Midland at $146,610 and Killeen-Temple at $138,670 pay well above the big metros, because west Texas and rural markets have to compete for clinicians who could otherwise work in Dallas or Houston.
Texas has a below-average nurse practitioner concentration relative to population, so demand exceeds supply in most of the state outside the major metros.
Texas still requires a prescriptive authority agreement with a delegating physician, which is a real constraint on where an NP can practise and on how much of the value of the role the NP captures.
Texas at a glance
Median salary$131,670
Median hourly$63.31
Range (P10–P90)$96,880–$161,980
Top-paying metroMidland · $146,610
vs nationallevel with US median
State income tax0%
TX employment (BLS)25,970
Location quotient0.89× US concentration
Wage basisBLS OEWS May 2025, Texas
Texas Nurse Practitioner Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
$96,880
P10
$113,840
P25
$131,670
Median
$147,660
P75
$161,980
P90
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025
Methodology & Sources
How the Texas nurse practitioner pay figures on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1171, Texas statewide estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them. OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation in Texas; it does not break pay out by credential or licence level.
Pay by level: the level and career-stage tables on this page distribute Texas's own published BLS pay range across the tiers employers actually hire at. They are GlobalCybers estimates aligned to published percentiles, not separate BLS publications.
Placement sample: GlobalCybers holds no Texas placement sample for this occupation, so this page shows published and percentile-aligned figures only — no placement-based median is claimed anywhere on it.
How to become a licensed nurse practitioner in Texas, step by step
1
Earn an MSN or DNP and national certification
Complete an accredited nurse practitioner programme and obtain national certification in your population focus.
2
Licence as an APRN with the Texas Board of Nursing
Apply to the Board for APRN licensure and prescriptive authority, and put a prescriptive authority agreement in place with a delegating physician.
3
Take a rural or west Texas post, or a specialty
Move into psychiatric-mental health or acute care, or take a post in an underserved Texas market where recruitment premiums apply — the step toward the state 75th percentile of $147,660.
4
Move into lead practice or locum work
Take a lead NP role or locum contracts covering underserved counties, which is where the state 90th percentile of $161,980 sits.
BON License Levels
How much do the nurse practitioner credential levels pay in Texas?
Texas licenses issued by BON (Texas Board of Nursing), which licenses advanced practice registered nurses and issues prescriptive authority in Texas. Each level's median pay in Texas markets.
BON License
TX Pay Range
TX Median
Key Note
New graduate nurse practitioner
$89K–$114K
$96,880
Around the state 10th percentile. First certified year under a prescriptive authority agreement, usually in primary care, urgent care or a hospital service.
Practising nurse practitioner
$114K–$148K
$131,670
The Texas median. Three to seven years in family practice, internal medicine or a hospital service, carrying an independent panel under a delegating physician.
Specialty or rural-market NP
$140K–$162K
$147,660
The state 75th percentile. Psychiatric-mental health, acute care and hospitalist practice, or a rural and west Texas post where recruitment premiums apply.
Lead NP, high-demand specialty or locum practice
$156K–$198K
$161,980
The state 90th percentile. Lead NPs, psychiatric and acute care specialists, and locum contracts covering underserved Texas counties.
Beyond Base Pay
What's a Texas nurse practitioner's total compensation, not just base wage?
BLS and verified-placement medians above are base wage only. Total comp for a TX nurse practitioner typically adds the following on top.
Texas nurse practitioners earn a median $131,670 a year, $63.31 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, essentially level with the national figure and with no state income tax withheld. The middle half earns between $113,840 and $147,660, and the full range is $96,880 to $161,980. Specialty and location drive placement in that range more than years of experience.
Which Texas city pays nurse practitioners the most?
Midland leads at $146,610, then Killeen-Temple at $138,670, Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands at $134,560, Corpus Christi at $133,810 and Beaumont-Port Arthur at $133,130. Every one of the top two is a smaller market paying a recruitment premium, which is the defining feature of the Texas NP market.
Can nurse practitioners practise independently in Texas?
No. Texas requires a prescriptive authority agreement with a delegating physician, covering the scope of prescribing, the mechanism for consultation and periodic chart review. The Texas Board of Nursing licenses APRNs and grants prescriptive authority, but the physician relationship remains a legal requirement, which is a meaningful difference from the states that have moved to full practice authority.
Which Texas NP specialty pays the most?
Psychiatric-mental health, followed by acute care and hospitalist practice, then procedural and specialty clinic roles. Family practice and paediatrics sit in the lower half. In Texas the geographic premium can rival the specialty premium: a family NP in an underserved west Texas county may out-earn a specialty NP in Dallas.
How does Texas compare with other states on NP pay?
Very closely with the middle of the pack: Wyoming at $132,200, Nebraska at $132,130, Wisconsin at $131,980, Michigan at $131,450 and Maryland at $131,110 are all within about a thousand dollars. What separates Texas from that group is the absence of a state income tax, which puts Texas comfortably ahead of all of them on take-home.
Why does Midland pay more than Houston?
Because supply, not demand, is what is scarce there. West Texas markets compete for clinicians against metros with far more amenities, and healthcare employers there pay a premium that reflects the difficulty of recruitment rather than the local cost of living. The same effect appears at Killeen-Temple, and it is durable in a way a metro premium is not, because the underlying supply gap does not close.
What does the prescriptive authority agreement cost an NP?
Sometimes money directly, since some Texas physicians charge for the delegation relationship, and always flexibility. It limits where an NP can set up, constrains independent practice models, and gives employers leverage that they do not have in full-practice-authority states. That is part of why the Texas median matches rather than exceeds the national figure despite the state's clinician shortage.
Is the $96,880 bottom of the range realistic?
For a full-time NP, rarely. As with most clinical series, the bottom decile blends part-time, per-diem and first-year practice. Read the 25th percentile of $113,840 as the practical floor for a full-time Texas NP, and treat anything materially below it as a part-year or reduced-hours arrangement rather than a market rate.
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Outlook & openings: BLS projects 40.1% national growth for nurse practitioners through 2034, and Texas's share of national employment works out to roughly 2,370 openings a year, pro-rated from the national average annual openings figure. Texas demand is geographically lopsided: the state has a large number of counties with very thin physician coverage, and nurse practitioners are the fastest way to add clinical capacity there — which is exactly the pattern the metro table shows.
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