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Here's how much it takes to earn a top 1 percent salary in Texas in 2025

Wealth, top earners in Texas, income threshold

More than 128,000 Texans are considered among the top one percent of earners in the state.

To be one of the highest earners in Texas, residents have to make about $18,000 less than they did last year, a new financial analysis from SmartAsset has found. Despite that amount being lower, it still means Texans have to make $743,955 to qualify as a top one-percent earner in the state in 2025.

To determine the income needed to be in the top one percent of earners, SmartAsset analyzed 2022 IRS data for individual tax filers, which is the most recent year where data was available, and income was adjusted to May 2025 dollars.

Nationwide, the income needed to be in the top one percent decreased in every state except for North Dakota, Florida, and Oklahoma. The national average income it takes to be considered a part of this exclusive group comes out to $731,492.

Connecticut is also the only state where its residents need to make more than $1 million to be considered a top one percent earner, and only 16,917 residents currently fit the bill for the designation.

Meanwhile, Texas has the 10th highest income needed to be considered a top earner in the U.S. SmartAsset said the state's threshold is $12,503 higher than the national average.

A total of 128,130 Texans currently make enough money to be considered one of the highest earners statewide. That's 2,002 more people than last year. Though the report doesn't provide information as to where these top earners live, it's entirely possible some are living in Houston. After all, the city's population has now surpassed 2.39 million residents.

For aspiring Texans who want to make it among the top five percent of earners in the state, they would have to make $284,661 a year to qualify, or about $4,000 more than last year's income threshold. There are 640,648 Texans who currently make enough money to be considered top 5 percent earners, the report said.

"Nearly 1.5 million households across the United States now rank among the top one percent of earners, according to the latest tax return data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)," the report said. "Economic conditions, tax policies and cost of living vary significantly from state to state, resulting in wide disparities between what it takes to become a top 1 percent earner across the nation."

For Houstonians who want to make enough money to be considered "middle class," the yearly salary ranges between $41,754 and $125,274, according to a separate 2025 SmartAsset report.

The top 10 states with the highest thresholds to be considered in the top 1 percent of earners in the U.S. are:

No. 1 – Connecticut ($1,056,996)
No. 2 – Massachusetts ($965,170)
No. 3 – California ($905,396)
No. 4– New Jersey ($901,082)
No. 5 – New York ($891,640)
No. 6 – Florida ($859,381)
No. 7 – Washington ($819,101)
No. 8 – Colorado ($772,989)
No. 9 – Wyoming ($771,369)
No. 10 – Texas ($743,955)

texas houston income salaries smartasset reports wealthiest people

SAFE SPACE

2 Houston neighbors ranked among the top 10 safest cities in Texas

Steve Francis home estate Memorial Villages

Photo by Kevin Ward

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Judging by the headlines, locals might think they're going to be accosted every time they leave home, but a new report says the Houston area is home to two of the safest cities in Texas. Home security review site SafeWise has ranked the communities of the Memorial Villages (No. 3) and Fulshear (No. 8) on its recent list of towns unburdened by crime worries.

For its 2026 report, SafeWise factored in FBI-reported property and violent crime data for 343 cities, then adjusted it for population in order to fairly compare metros to rural and suburban towns. Although the rankings do provide a snapshot, the site says “a number of factors, including local agency reporting practices, community resources, prevention efforts, and lived experience all influence how safe a place is (or is perceived to be).”

The rankings were released with SafeWise’s State of Safety survey, which found that perception didn’t always gel with reality. Although the statewide property crime rate of 23.4 incidents per 1,000 people is slightly higher than the national rate, Texas’ violent crime rate of 4.44 incidents per 1,000 people is consistent with the national average.

Still, Texans feel less safe than the average American. Only 49 percent of the survey’s respondents say they feel safe in the state compared to the national norm of 52 percent. 55 percent said they worry about their safety on a daily basis, a year-over-year increase from 52 percent. The data contrasts with first-hand reporting. For the second year in a row, Lone Star State participants said they have had few personal experiences with property crime and package theft.

Elsewhere in Texas, Fair Oaks Ranch was the only San Antonio area city to make it to the list, which favored towns of 30,000 residents or fewer. The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan statistical area had the most ranked cities. The full top 10 includes:

No. 1 — Trophy Club (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 2 — Parker (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 3 — Memorial Villages (Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land)
No. 4 — Melissa (Dallas-Fort Worth)
No. 5 — Fair Oaks Ranch (San Antonio-New Braunfels)
No. 6 — Whitehouse (Tyler)
No. 7 — Murphy (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 8 — Fulshear (Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land)
No. 9 — Colleyville (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 10 — Lumberton (Beaumont-Port Arthur)

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