What Lawyers earn in Caldwell County, TX
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $153,330: the median annual pay for Lawyers in Caldwell County, TX. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $73.72 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $184,630, which is 20.4% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,540 people working in this occupation across the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Caldwell County, TX has roughly 48,669 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Lawyers in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $83,990 a year ($40.38 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $361,090 or more ($173.60 an hour). That is a gap of $277,100 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $105,240 at the 25th percentile and $220,540 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 4.3 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $73.72 an hour or $153,330 a year at the median for Caldwell County, TX. Before any deductions, that is $12,778 a month, $5,897 every two weeks and $2,949 each week. After taxes the same job pays $55.64 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Lawyers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Lawyers this way: "Represent clients in criminal and civil litigation and other legal proceedings, draw up legal documents, or manage or advise clients on legal transactions. May specialize in a single area or may practice broadly in many areas of law."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Advise clients concerning business transactions, claim liability, advisability of prosecuting or defending lawsuits, or legal rights and obligations"; "Interpret laws, rulings and regulations for individuals and businesses"; "Analyze the probable outcomes of cases, using knowledge of legal precedents"; "Evaluate findings and develop strategies and arguments in preparation for presentation of cases".
Job outlook for Lawyers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 863,700 jobs in 2025 to 904,300 in 2035, a change of +4.7%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 28,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 3.3% of current employment each year. About 11.3% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: doctoral or professional degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $159,670 for this occupation; the Caldwell County, TX median of $153,330 is 4.0% below it.
How pay in Caldwell County, TX compares
Compared with the Texas average
Pay for Lawyers in Caldwell County, TX is in line with the statewide figure: $153,330 locally against an employment-weighted Texas average of $154,045, a difference of only $715 (0.5%). Within Texas, the highest median we track for this job is $168,510 in Dallas County, TX.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Lawyers is $160,953 across the contiguous United States. At $153,330, Caldwell County, TX pays $7,623 less, which is 4.7% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Caldwell County, TX
Among the 528 occupations with published wages in Caldwell County, TX, Lawyers ranks number 17 by median pay, ahead of about 97% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $176,990 a year, which is $23,660 more than the median for Lawyers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Lawyers earning the Caldwell County, TX median of $153,330, they add up to $37,596. The result is $115,734 of take-home pay a year ($9,645 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $25 goes to taxes and $75 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 24.5%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $137,580. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 24% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $25,866, an effective 16.9% of gross pay, well below the 24% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $9,506 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $2,223. FICA totals $11,730, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Texas
Texas does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Lawyers in Caldwell County, TX is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $7,667 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $639 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Caldwell County, TX
IRS Statistics of Income data for Caldwell County, TX show an average adjusted gross income of $61,982 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.5% across all filers. Filers in the $100,000 to under $200,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 10.7%, compared with the 16.9% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Caldwell County, TX
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Caldwell County, TX: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $115,734 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Caldwell County, TX, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,530 a month ($18,360 a year), and at $1,817 for two bedrooms. For Lawyers, a one-bedroom absorbs 15.9% of take-home pay and 12.0% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 2.2% of gross pay for Lawyers in Caldwell County, TX. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Texas residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,578 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $719, for $2,297 in total. Gasoline in Texas averages $2.88 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,334.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $25,427 a year in Caldwell County, TX. Subtract that from $115,734 of take-home pay and $90,307 remains, which is $7,526 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 58.9% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Caldwell County, TX
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Caldwell County, TX: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Caldwell County, TX, set beside the Texas and national medians.
Property taxes in Caldwell County, TX
Homeowners in Caldwell County, TX pay a median of $3,235 a year in real estate taxes, 24% below the Texas median of $4,232 and 4% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $240,500, the median tax bill is 1.35% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Lawyers median of $153,330, a tax bill of that size would equal 2.1% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Caldwell County, TX
Renters in Caldwell County, TX pay a median gross rent of $1,173 a month in the Census survey, 16% below the Texas median of $1,403. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,530 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $240,500, 15% below the Texas median of $283,800. Median household income is $69,758, 11% below the Texas median of $78,476, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 26.3% of that income.
Commuting in Caldwell County, TX
Workers in Caldwell County, TX who travel to a workplace spend an average of 34.3 minutes each way, 28% above the Texas average of 26.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 9.9% of workers in Caldwell County, TX work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Lawyers afford to live in Caldwell County, TX?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $153,330 that ceiling is $3,833 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,530 is $2,303 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.42 an hour; the median for Lawyers is $73.72, which is 151% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $55.64 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 6.3 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,817 a month means $909 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,458 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $97,765.
How fast you can save
At $7,526 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 2 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 4 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Lawyers pay in Caldwell County, TX
How much do Lawyers make per hour in Caldwell County, TX?
The median is $73.72 per hour, based on $153,330 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $40.38 at the 10th percentile to $173.60 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Lawyers take home after taxes in Caldwell County, TX?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $153,330 becomes $115,734 a year. That is $9,645 a month, $4,451 every two weeks or $2,226 a week.
How much tax do Lawyers pay in Caldwell County, TX?
Total taxes are $37,596 a year, an effective rate of 24.5%: $25,866 federal income tax, $11,730 FICA and no Texas income tax.
Do Lawyers earn more in Caldwell County, TX than elsewhere in Texas?
It is about the same. The local median of $153,330 is within 0.5% of the Texas average of $154,045.
Can Lawyers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Caldwell County, TX?
A one-bedroom costs $1,530 a month against take-home pay of $9,645, which is 15.9% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $3,833 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Lawyers in Caldwell County, TX?
About $7,526 a month ($90,307 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $25,427 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Caldwell County, TX at the 30% guideline?
$29.42 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,360 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Lawyers is $73.72.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Texas rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.