Texas · BLS May 2025
Also called industrial truck operator. SOC 53-7051.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 88,780 industrial truck and tractor operators working in Texas. Here is what they are paid, what the median leaves after federal and FICA tax, and what that is worth against local prices.
Median pay · Texas
$45,450A year, or $21.85 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentileEntry and lowest-paid | $34,300 | $16.49 |
| 25th percentile | $37,720 | $18.13 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $45,450 | $21.85 |
| 75th percentile | $49,590 | $23.84 |
| 90th percentileMost experienced and senior | $59,780 | $28.74 |
| MeanThe average, pulled up by the top | $45,400 | $21.83 |
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
A $45,450 salary in Texas, for one single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026.
Prices in Texas sit at 97.1 against a national average of 100, so $45,450 earned here buys what $46,828 buys at national average prices.
Common questions
The median wage for forklift operators in Texas is $45,450 a year, or $21.85 an hour.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
On the median wage of $45,450, one filer taking the standard deduction keeps about $38,699 a year, or roughly $3,225 a month.
That is after federal and FICA tax, an effective rate of 14.9%.
Texas levies no state income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld for it.
No. The median in Texas is 2.1% below the national median of $46,420.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Texas sit at 97.1 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
It is 0.58 times the median household income of $78,476. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Texas run at 97.1 against a national average of 100, with rents at 96.5, so $45,450 here buys about what $46,828 buys at national average prices.
The top tenth earn $59,780 a year or more, against $34,300 at the bottom tenth.
Experience, specialism, employer and the part of Texas someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
The survey counted 88,780 of these jobs in Texas for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 27% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.
Sources