BLS MSA DATA · SOC 29-1171 · 5,970 MSA WORKERS · NO STATE INCOME TAX
Nurse Practitioner Salary in Houston, TX 2026, $134,560 Median | BLS + Market Data
NP pay across the Houston metro, where the world's largest medical complex, a heavy specialty mix and zero state income tax combine into one of the strongest effective NP markets in the country.
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 →
Houston Median
$134,560
$64.69/hr BLS
P75
$143,680
$69.08/hr
Sector Peak
$158,830
Metro P90
BLS Workers
5,970
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands MSA
vs TX Median
+$2,890
+2.2% above TX
Direct Answer
How much do nurse practitioners make in Houston, TX in 2026?
Houston nurse practitioners earn a BLS MSA median of $134,560/yr ($64.69/hr), 2.2% above the Texas statewide median and 1.7% above the US figure. The metro band runs $96,880 to $158,830. Houston's advantage is less about the headline than the combination of it: a large specialty-heavy employment base concentrated around the Texas Medical Center, and no state income tax, so the whole of the $134,560 median is exposed only to federal withholding. → Full nurse practitioner career guide, career path, BON licence, and Houston job placement →
Key takeaways
Houston nurse practitioners earn a BLS MSA median of $134,560/yr ($64.69/hr) per BLS OEWS May 2025 (SOC 29-1171, Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands MSA), with a metro P10–P90 range of $96,880 to $158,830.
Houston NPs earn 2.2% above the Texas statewide median and 1.7% above the national figure, with a published band from $96,880 to $158,830.
The metro's specialty-heavy employment base, anchored by the Texas Medical Center complex, concentrates the highest-paying NP roles in a small geographic area.
With no state income tax, Houston's effective NP pay outperforms several metros with higher published medians.
Houston Nurse Practitioner Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025
Houston Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do Houston nurse practitioners earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended metro wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute this MSA's own published percentile range across the tiers Houston employers actually hire at.
Level
MSA Median (BLS percentile-aligned)
New-graduate APRN, first year
$96,880
Certified family NP (FNP), ambulatory
$134,560
Acute care NP, inpatient
$143,680
Oncology or surgical specialty NP
$158,830
Level medians are aligned to this metro's own published BLS OEWS May 2025 percentiles for SOC 29-1171; BLS does not publish a wage by credential level. GlobalCybers holds no verified placement sample for Houston nurse practitioners, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1171, Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX MSA. No verified placement data: GlobalCybers has no placement sample for Houston nurse practitioners, so every figure on this page is a published BLS estimate and no verified median is claimed. MSA sample size: an OEWS metro cell is drawn from a much smaller establishment sample than the statewide cell, so metro medians carry wider uncertainty and move more between releases. Where BLS suppresses or top-codes the metro wage for this occupation, this page reports the national figure and says so rather than asserting a Houston median. Employer names mentioned on this page (e.g. in sector or FAQ copy) are illustrative examples of who hires in each market, not a claim of partnership. Full statewide methodology → · Full site methodology & data sources →
Full Data
How much do nurse practitioners make in Houston TX in 2026?
Metric
Value
Source
BLS MSA Median (Annual)
$134,560
BLS OEWS May 2025
BLS Median Hourly
$64.69/hr
BLS OEWS May 2025
P10 (Bottom 10%)
$96,880/yr · $46.58/hr
BLS OEWS
P25
$116,500/yr · $56.01/hr
BLS OEWS
P75
$143,680/yr · $69.08/hr
BLS OEWS
P90 (Top 10%)
$158,830/yr · $76.36/hr
BLS OEWS
vs Texas Median
+$2,890 (+2.2%)
vs $131,670 TX
vs National Median
+$2,260 (+1.7%)
vs $132,300 US
Texas State Income Tax
$0, No state income tax
Texas Tax Code
Licensing Authority
BON (Texas Board of Nursing)
State board
Reading this page's sources:BLS OEWS is the official published wage, sampled 1–2 years back. Market intelligence rows are directional signals from recruiter conversations and industry sources, not independently verified — treat them as a range, not a benchmark.
Houston Sectors
Which Houston sector pays nurse practitioners the most?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for nurse practitioners across the whole Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro and does not break it out by industry. The sectors below are ranked in the order Houston employers actually pay, with each row anchored to this metro's own published percentile ladder (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1171).
Sector
MSA Median
Notes
Oncology, cardiology and surgical specialty NPs
$158,830
Specialty NP roles in the metro's large teaching and cancer centres sit at the $158,830 top of the published band, with call pay on top.
Acute care and inpatient hospitalist NPs
$143,680
Inpatient acute-care NPs across the metro's hospital systems sit around the $143,680 P75, where shift differentials do much of the work.
System-employed primary and ambulatory care
$134,560
The typical Houston NP in an employed ambulatory or family-practice role sits at the $134,560 metro median.
Community health, retail clinic and new-graduate roles
$116,500
FQHCs, retail clinics and first-year NP posts cluster near the $116,500 P25, the entry band for the metro's large new-graduate pipeline.
Real Take-Home
What is the actual take-home pay for a Houston nurse practitioner?
Real Houston scenarios, line by line. No state income tax, which at NP pay levels is worth more than most metro premiums: a Houston NP at the $134,560 median has federal income tax and FICA withheld and nothing else, with no city wage tax either. NPs taking locum shifts on top of a salaried post should treat that income as self-employment and plan quarterly estimates.
Estimates only. Pre-tax deductions (401k, health premium) reduce taxable income further. Consult a tax professional.
Houston nurse practitioners earn a BLS MSA median of $134,560/yr, or $64.69/hr, with a published metro range of $96,880 to $158,830. That is 2.2% above the Texas statewide median. The specialty concentration around the metro's medical complex is what pulls the upper half of the band above other Texas metros.
Do nurse practitioners earn more in Houston than elsewhere in Texas?
Yes, by 2.2%, and Houston is the highest-paying large metro for NPs in Texas. The medical centre complex concentrates oncology, cardiology and surgical specialty roles that simply do not exist in the same density elsewhere in the state, and those roles occupy the top of the local band.
What do specialty NPs earn in the Houston medical district?
Oncology, cardiology and surgical-service NPs sit at the top of the published Houston band, near $158,830, before call pay. That is roughly 18% above the metro median, and it is the clearest example of how much specialty rather than seniority drives NP pay in this market.
What licence do Houston nurse practitioners need?
An APRN licence from the Texas Board of Nursing on top of an RN licence, with national certification in your population focus. Texas requires a prescriptive authority agreement with a delegating physician for prescribing; the licence itself is statewide, so it moves with you to any Texas city.
Do Houston nurse practitioners pay state income tax?
No. Texas levies no state income tax and Houston has no city wage tax, so an NP at the $134,560 metro median is subject to federal income tax and FICA only. Against a California or Illinois metro at a similar gross, that difference is usually larger than any local pay premium either way.
Why Houston tops the Texas NP market
Houston hosts an unusually dense concentration of teaching hospitals, cancer centres and specialty institutes in one district, and specialty NP roles pay materially more than ambulatory ones. That mix, rather than a general wage premium, is what puts the metro 2.2% above the state median and stretches its upper band to $158,830. Primary-care NP pay in Houston is much closer to the statewide figure.
What this figure does not capture
The estimate blends every NP population focus into one median, so it understates the distance between family practice and inpatient specialty work. It also excludes call pay and shift differentials, which in this metro are a routine part of an inpatient NP's income rather than an occasional extra.
The prescriptive-authority mechanic
Texas requires APRNs to prescribe under a written prescriptive authority agreement with a delegating physician, and the terms of that agreement — how many hours of delegation, what the physician charges for it — vary widely between employers. In practice this shapes Houston NP compensation as much as base pay does, because an employer absorbing the delegation cost is worth real money to the NP.
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Outlook & openings: Nurse practitioner employment is projected to grow 40.1% nationally over 2024–2034; pro-rated by Houston's share of national employment that is roughly 550 openings a year, derived from the national EP total rather than a Houston-specific projection. (2024–2034 · national BLS EP 2024–34, pro-rated to the metro)
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