income news

How Texans' income compares to the rest of the U.S. in 2025

Texans aren't quite making the national median income, but they're doing better than people in many other states.

SimplifyYourMoney.com

Hardworking Texans are making less money per year than the national median, a new WalletHub study has revealed.

The just-released report, "States Where People Have the Highest Income," found Texas workers are making an adjusted median annual income of $73,718, compared to the national median of $81,000 per year.

The study examined the average annual income of the top five percent, the average income of the bottom 20 percent, and the median income for all residents in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Income was adjusted for the cost of living.

Although individual Texans are not quite making the national median, the state as a whole ranked 11th for "highest" incomes, moving up one spot from its 2024 ranking. Virginia claimed the No. 1 spot, followed by New Jersey (No. 2) and New York (No. 3). (As a note, the earnings of each state's top five percent were double weighted, meaning they counted twice as much as the median and bottom categories.)

Based on WalletHub's findings, the top five percent of Texans are making more than $504,000 per year, adjusted for cost of living. Meanwhile, the bottom 20 percent of Texas residents are making only an adjusted $17,461 annually.

In a major city like Houston, income disparities may appear to be even wider than other Texas cities. Earning a "comfortable" wage in Houston now costs $15,000 more than it did in 2024, and being a middle-class earner means making a minimum of $41,754 a year and as much as $125,274.

Yet Houston still ranks as one of the wealthiest cities in America with 18 billionaires and about 82,000 millionaires calling the city home. Even Houston's suburbs are attracting more high-earning households than many other U.S. cities.

"The highest-earning 10 percent of individuals in the United States earn over 12 times more than those in the lowest-earning 10 percent, based on the latest Census data," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. "By measuring the income of various percentiles against a state's median income, we can better identify where income disparities are more prevalent, which could help us better understand why residents of certain states struggle more to make ends meet."

The top 10 states with residents earning the highest income are:

No. 1 – Virginia
No. 2 – New Jersey
No. 3 – New York
No. 4 – Connecticut
No. 5 – Washington
No. 6 – Utah
No. 7 – Minnesota
No. 8 – Colorado
No. 9 – Illinois
No. 10 – Massachusetts

texas wallethub reports income

gas price news

This is how much Texas gas prices have fallen since May 2026

Close-Up of Woman Paying For Gas With Credit Card

Getty Images

Millions of Americans will be traveling for the Fourth of July weekend.

Houstonians planning to travel over the holiday weekend will be relieved to know Texas is among the top 10 states with the biggest dips in gas prices since May.

A new SmartAsset study analyzed the changes in average gas prices across all 50 states between May 21 and June 28, 2026, and used the data to determine each state's "gas-price burden" — meaning the cost of filling a 15-gallon tank represented as the share of the estimated median weekly household income.

Texas had the fifth highest surge in gas prices in April, and prices across the U.S. continued soaring until reaching an annual peak in late May. On May 21, regular gas prices peaked at $4.09 in Texas, and the latest data has revealed statewide gas prices have dipped nearly 24 percent since then.

Now as of June 29, Texas gas prices have eased by 79 cents and now stand at $3.30 per gallon. Unfortunately, prices have not dwindled as much in Harris County. Many Houston residents will be seeing gas prices at around $3.38 on average.

Based on a Texas household's median weekly income of $1,617, the cost of filling up a 15-gallon tank of gas eats up 3.1 percent those earnings, the report added. That means Texas' gas-price burden is the 9th lowest in the U.S.

Texas has the second-cheapest price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. (behind Indiana) and it ranks 6th in the national comparison of states with the biggest gas price declines since May.

Colorado led the nation with the biggest dip in the price of gas since May, with prices declining by 29.2 percent. Gas now costs $3.89 per gallon, down from $4.77.

Declining gas prices are a welcome relief for commuters and for Texas residents hitting the road for the Fourth of July weekend. But that isn't the case for residents in other states like Hawaii, Alaska, or Washington, where gas prices have not seen as much relief.

"Lower prices and higher household incomes make a fill-up relatively affordable in some states, while gas costs consume a larger share of household income in others," the report said. "Three Pacific states continue to have the nation’s highest pump prices. A gallon of regular gasoline averages $5.52 in Hawaii, $5.46 in California and $5.20 in Washington."

The top 10 states with the biggest gas price drops since May 21 are:

No. 1 – Colorado
No. 2 – Kentucky
No. 3 – Indiana
No. 4 – Tennessee
No. 5 – Ohio
No. 6 – Texas
No. 7 – Iowa
No. 8 – Wisconsin
No. 9 – Oklahoma
No. 10 – Illinois

gas prices texas smartasset reports fourth of july