What Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers earn in Montgomery County, TX
The median pay for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Montgomery County, TX is $58,940 per year, which works out to $28.34 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area, the labor market that Montgomery County, TX belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $60,390, which is 2.5% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 7,680 people working in this occupation across the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Montgomery County, TX has roughly 684,432 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $38,780 a year ($18.64 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $83,120 or more ($39.96 an hour). That is a gap of $44,340 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $47,040 at the 25th percentile and $73,900 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.1 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Montgomery County, TX is $28.34. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $58,940, and the same salary is $4,912 a month before taxes or about $2,267 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $23.79 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers this way: "Install or repair heating, central air conditioning, HVAC, or refrigeration systems, including oil burners, hot-air furnaces, and heating stoves."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Test electrical circuits or components for continuity, using electrical test equipment"; "Repair or replace defective equipment, components, or wiring"; "Discuss heating or cooling system malfunctions with users to isolate problems or to verify that repairs corrected malfunctions"; "Connect heating or air conditioning equipment to fuel, water, or refrigerant source to form complete circuit".
Job outlook for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 440,900 jobs in 2025 to 489,100 in 2035, a change of +10.9%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 40,600 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.2% of current employment each year. About 6.3% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: long-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $61,010 for this occupation; the Montgomery County, TX median of $58,940 is 3.4% below it.
How pay in Montgomery County, TX compares
Compared with the Texas average
Montgomery County, TX pays above the state benchmark. The Texas employment-weighted average for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers is $57,179; the local median of $58,940 beats it by $1,761, or 3.1%. Within Texas, the highest median we track for this job is $59,560 in Dallas County, TX.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers is $62,470 across the contiguous United States. At $58,940, Montgomery County, TX pays $3,530 less, which is 5.7% 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 Montgomery County, TX
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Montgomery County, TX, Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers ranks number 303 by median pay, ahead of about 51% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $172,160 a year, which is $113,220 more than the median for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $58,940 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $9,453 a year, which leaves $49,487, or $4,124 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 16.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $43,190. 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 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $4,944, an effective 8.4% of gross pay, well below the 12% 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 $3,654 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $855. FICA totals $4,509, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Texas
There is no state income tax on wages in Texas, which means Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Montgomery County, TX keep the full $49,487 left after federal and payroll taxes. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $2,947 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $246 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Montgomery County, TX
IRS Statistics of Income data for Montgomery County, TX show an average adjusted gross income of $114,601 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 15.9% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 6.8%, compared with the 8.4% 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 Montgomery County, TX
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Montgomery County, TX: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $49,487 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Montgomery County, TX is $1,261 a month, or $15,132 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,497 a month. For Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers, a one-bedroom absorbs 30.6% of take-home pay and 25.7% 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 5.8% of gross pay for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Montgomery 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
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $22,199 a year, 45% of take-home pay. That leaves $27,288 a year, or $2,274 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 46.3% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Montgomery County, TX
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Montgomery 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 Montgomery County, TX, set beside the Texas and national medians.
Property taxes in Montgomery County, TX
Homeowners in Montgomery County, TX pay a median of $5,268 a year in real estate taxes, 24% above the Texas median of $4,232 and 69% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $346,200, the median tax bill is 1.52% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers median of $58,940, a tax bill of that size would equal 8.9% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Montgomery County, TX
Renters in Montgomery County, TX pay a median gross rent of $1,532 a month in the Census survey, 9% above the Texas median of $1,403. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,261 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 $346,200, 22% above the Texas median of $283,800. Median household income is $97,701, 24% above the Texas median of $78,476, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 15.5% of that income.
Commuting in Montgomery County, TX
Workers in Montgomery County, TX who travel to a workplace spend an average of 31.8 minutes each way, 19% above the Texas average of 26.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.3 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 15.9% of workers in Montgomery County, TX work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers afford to live in Montgomery 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 $58,940 that ceiling is $1,474 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,261 is $213 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $24.25 an hour; the median for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers is $28.34, which is 17% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $23.79 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 12.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,497 a month means $749 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,150 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $33,438.
How fast you can save
At $2,274 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 5 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 10 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers pay in Montgomery County, TX
What is the hourly wage for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Montgomery County, TX?
The median is $28.34 per hour, based on $58,940 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $18.64 at the 10th percentile to $39.96 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Montgomery County, TX?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $58,940 becomes $49,487 a year. That is $4,124 a month, $1,903 every two weeks or $952 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Montgomery County, TX?
Total taxes are $9,453 a year, an effective rate of 16.0%: $4,944 federal income tax, $4,509 FICA and no Texas income tax.
Is pay for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Montgomery County, TX above the Texas average?
Yes. The local median of $58,940 is +3.1% versus the Texas average of $57,179, a difference of $1,761 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers salary in Montgomery County, TX?
A one-bedroom costs $1,261 a month against take-home pay of $4,124, which is 30.6% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,474 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Montgomery County, TX?
About $2,274 a month ($27,288 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $22,199 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Montgomery County, TX at the 30% guideline?
$24.25 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $15,132 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers is $28.34.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, 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.