Pharmacist Salary in Texas 2026, $138,260 Median | BLS Data by City
Texas pharmacist pay follows a pattern you see across this state's clinical occupations: the big metros pay the least, the small and remote markets pay the most, and no state income tax is withheld from any of it.
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
$138,260
$66.47/hr
vs National
−$2,650
1.9% below US median
TX P90
$170,170
$81.81/hr · top earners
TX Job Growth
+4.6%
2024–2034 · national BLS EP 2024–34
🤑Texas levies no state income tax, and at a pharmacist's income that is worth a large sum every year against California, New York and Oregon. It is the strongest financial argument for practising here and the reason Texas's slightly below-median gross figure understates its position. The offsetting cost is property tax, which is high in Texas and falls on pharmacists as homeowners — a meaningful line at this income level, though still smaller than the state income tax it replaces.
Direct Answer
How much do pharmacists make in Texas in 2026?
Texas pharmacists earn a median $138,260 a year, or $66.47 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, 1.9% below the national median of $140,910 — and with no state income tax withheld, a Texas pharmacist's take-home comfortably exceeds that of a pharmacist earning the same gross in California or New York. The range runs $95,950 to $170,170. Midland pays the most at $161,260, followed by Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos at $151,290, Waco at $150,710, San Antonio-New Braunfels at $150,500 and Killeen-Temple at $149,790. → Full pharmacist career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $138,260 blends every experience level, apprentice through master. For pay by license level alone, see pay by level below.
Key takeaways
Texas pharmacists earn a median $138,260/yr ($66.47/hr) per BLS OEWS May 2025 (SOC 29-1051), 1.9% below the $140,910 national median; the state P10–P90 range is $95,950 to $170,170.
Midland at $161,260 pays about twenty-three thousand dollars above the state median, and neither Dallas nor Houston appears in the top five — Texas pharmacist pay rewards remoteness, not metro size.
Texas has a below-average pharmacist concentration relative to population, so recruitment is genuinely hard outside the metros, which is what produces those premiums.
No state income tax is withheld, so a Texas pharmacist at $138,260 takes home more than a pharmacist earning several thousand dollars more in a high-tax state.
Texas at a glance
Median salary$138,260
Median hourly$66.47
Range (P10–P90)$95,950–$170,170
Top-paying metroMidland · $161,260
vs national1.9% below
State income tax0%
TX employment (BLS)24,700
Location quotient0.85× US concentration
Wage basisBLS OEWS May 2025, Texas
Texas Pharmacist Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
$95,950
P10
$128,170
P25
$138,260
Median
$160,080
P75
$170,170
P90
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025
Methodology & Sources
How the Texas pharmacist pay figures on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1051, 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 pharmacist in Texas, step by step
1
Earn a PharmD and complete intern hours
Graduate from an ACPE-accredited PharmD programme and complete the intern hours the Texas State Board of Pharmacy requires.
2
Pass NAPLEX and the Texas MPJE
Sit the NAPLEX and the Texas jurisprudence examination, or apply by reciprocity if already licensed elsewhere, and licence with the Board.
3
Consider a west or rural Texas market
Take a hospital or independent pharmacy post in a market that pays a recruitment premium, which is the fastest route toward the state 75th percentile of $160,080.
4
Move into clinical specialty or pharmacy leadership
Add board certification and move into a clinical specialist, manager or director role, or into specialty and infusion practice, where the state 90th percentile of $170,170 sits.
TSBP License Levels
How much do the pharmacist credential levels pay in Texas?
Texas licenses issued by TSBP (Texas State Board of Pharmacy), which licenses every practising pharmacist in Texas. Each level's median pay in Texas markets.
TSBP License
TX Pay Range
TX Median
Key Note
Relief or per-diem pharmacist
$88K–$128K
$95,950
The bottom of the Texas range, around the 10th percentile. Part-time, relief and per-diem practice rather than a career stage.
Staff pharmacist
$128K–$160K
$138,260
The Texas median. Full-time community, health-system or mail-order staff practice, which is where most licensed Texas pharmacists sit.
Clinical specialist, manager or rural-market pharmacist
$152K–$170K
$160,080
The state 75th percentile. Board-certified specialists and pharmacy managers, or staff pharmacists in the west and rural Texas markets that pay recruitment premiums.
Director or specialty practice
$163K–$208K
$170,170
The state 90th percentile. Pharmacy directors, health-system leadership, and specialty, infusion and nuclear pharmacy practice.
Beyond Base Pay
What's a Texas pharmacist's total compensation, not just base wage?
BLS and verified-placement medians above are base wage only. Total comp for a TX pharmacist typically adds the following on top.
Texas pharmacists earn a median $138,260 a year, $66.47 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, slightly below the national figure but with no state income tax withheld. The middle half earns between $128,170 and $160,080, and the full range is $95,950 to $170,170. The 10th percentile reflects relief and part-time practice rather than an entry salary.
Which Texas city pays pharmacists the most?
Midland leads at $161,260, then Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos at $151,290, Waco at $150,710, San Antonio-New Braunfels at $150,500 and Killeen-Temple at $149,790. Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston do not appear, which is the clearest possible statement that Texas pharmacist pay is set by recruitment difficulty rather than by market size.
How do I get a Texas pharmacist licence?
Graduate from an ACPE-accredited PharmD programme, complete the required intern hours, and pass the NAPLEX and the Texas MPJE jurisprudence examination administered under the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. Pharmacists licensed in other states may apply by reciprocity but still take the Texas jurisprudence examination.
Why do small Texas markets pay pharmacists more?
Because they cannot recruit otherwise. Midland, Waco and Killeen-Temple compete for pharmacists against Austin, Dallas and Houston, where most Texas pharmacy graduates want to live, and the only lever those employers control is pay. The premium is durable, and it is worth more in real terms because housing in those markets is far cheaper than in Austin.
How does Texas compare with similar states?
Iowa at $138,860, Massachusetts at $138,170, Pennsylvania at $138,160, Michigan at $137,860 and Kansas at $137,800 sit within about a thousand dollars of Texas on gross. Texas is the only one of that group with no state income tax, which puts it clearly ahead of all of them on what a pharmacist actually keeps.
Why does Texas have fewer pharmacists per capita than the country?
Partly geography and partly graduate retention. Texas is large and thinly populated outside its metro triangle, so serving it requires pharmacists to live in places most graduates do not choose, and the state's pharmacy schools do not produce enough graduates willing to do that. The result is a genuine and persistent maldistribution, visible here as a low state concentration alongside high pay in the smallest markets.
What has retail contraction done in Texas?
The same hollowing-out seen nationally, with a geographic twist: chain closures have hit small-town Texas hardest, which is where pharmacy access was already thinnest. For pharmacists that has cut community posts in exactly the markets that pay best, and pushed more of the opportunity into hospital and health-system practice — which is also where the clinical specialty ladder sits.
Is the Midland premium reliable?
Reasonably, but it moves with the energy cycle. West Texas employers across every sector pay above the regional norm when the oil economy is strong, and healthcare employers must match it to retain staff. When the cycle turns, that pressure eases. A pharmacist relocating for the premium should treat it as a good several-year proposition rather than a permanent structural feature.
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Outlook & openings: BLS projects 4.6% national growth for pharmacists through 2034, and Texas's share of national employment works out to roughly 1,090 openings a year, pro-rated from the national average annual openings figure. Texas's own pattern is geographic: metro pharmacy positions are competitive while rural and west Texas hospitals and independents carry persistent vacancies, which is exactly the distribution the metro table shows.
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