What Construction Laborers earn in Harris County, TX
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $41,350: the median annual pay for Construction Laborers in Harris County, TX. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $19.88 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $43,850, which is 6.0% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 34,080 people working in this occupation across the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Harris County, TX has roughly 4,838,303 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Construction Laborers in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $34,880 a year ($16.77 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $58,310 or more ($28.03 an hour). That is a gap of $23,430 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $37,070 at the 25th percentile and $47,590 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.7 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: $19.88 an hour or $41,350 a year at the median for Harris County, TX. Before any deductions, that is $3,446 a month, $1,590 every two weeks and $795 each week. After taxes the same job pays $17.00 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Harris County, TX compares
Compared with the Texas average
Pay for Construction Laborers in Harris County, TX is in line with the statewide figure: $41,350 locally against an employment-weighted Texas average of $41,483, a difference of only $133 (0.3%). Within Texas, the highest median we track for this job is $43,960 in Dallas County, TX.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Construction Laborers is $49,249 across the contiguous United States. At $41,350, Harris County, TX pays $7,899 less, which is 16.0% 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 Harris County, TX
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Harris County, TX, Construction Laborers ranks number 491 by median pay, ahead of about 21% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $119,600 a year, which is $78,250 more than the median for Construction Laborers.
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 Construction Laborers earning the Harris County, TX median of $41,350, they add up to $5,997. The result is $35,353 of take-home pay a year ($2,946 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 14.5%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $25,600. 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 $2,834, an effective 6.9% 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 $2,564 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $600. FICA totals $3,163, 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 Construction Laborers in Harris 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 $2,068 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $172 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Harris County, TX
IRS Statistics of Income data for Harris County, TX show an average adjusted gross income of $93,479 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 16.1% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 6.9% 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 Harris County, TX
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Harris County, TX: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $35,353 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Harris County, TX, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,261 a month ($15,132 a year), and at $1,497 for two bedrooms. For Construction Laborers, a one-bedroom absorbs 42.8% of take-home pay and 36.6% 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 8.3% of gross pay for Construction Laborers in Harris 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 $22,199 a year in Harris County, TX. Subtract that from $35,353 of take-home pay and $13,154 remains, which is $1,096 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 31.8% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Can Construction Laborers afford to live in Harris 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 $41,350 that ceiling is $1,034 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,261 is $227 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $24.25 an hour; the median for Construction Laborers is $19.88, which is 18% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $17.00 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 17.1 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 $19,304.
How fast you can save
At $1,096 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 10 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 20 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Construction Laborers pay in Harris County, TX
How much do Construction Laborers make per hour in Harris County, TX?
The median is $19.88 per hour, based on $41,350 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $16.77 at the 10th percentile to $28.03 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Construction Laborers take home after taxes in Harris County, TX?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $41,350 becomes $35,353 a year. That is $2,946 a month, $1,360 every two weeks or $680 a week.
How much tax do Construction Laborers pay in Harris County, TX?
Total taxes are $5,997 a year, an effective rate of 14.5%: $2,834 federal income tax, $3,163 FICA and no Texas income tax.
Do Construction Laborers earn more in Harris County, TX than elsewhere in Texas?
It is about the same. The local median of $41,350 is within 0.3% of the Texas average of $41,483.
Can Construction Laborers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Harris County, TX?
A one-bedroom costs $1,261 a month against take-home pay of $2,946, which is 42.8% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,034 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Construction Laborers in Harris County, TX?
About $1,096 a month ($13,154 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 Harris 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 Construction Laborers is $19.88.
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.