Over the past decade, Texas has consistently been one of the fastest-growing U.S. states. Today, nearly 29 million people live in Texas, making it the second most populous state. So it’s little wonder that healthcare jobs are in high demand, given the ever-expanding number of people who live in Texas.
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Across the U.S., healthcare jobs are expected to see a growth rate of about 14%, which is nearly triple the rate at which all occupations are expected to grow. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas was facing a shortage of qualified healthcare professionals, and the virus has deepened that crisis.
The good news for many healthcare professionals, especially those with advanced nursing degrees, such as the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), is that wages for these jobs in Texas are typically quite high, which means that not only can these trained professionals help alleviate the coming strain on the system but that they can expect to be well-compensated for their efforts.
SEE ALSO: Texas DNP Programs with Online Options
Average Doctor of Nursing Practice DNP Salaries in Texas
To understand typical wages for DNP roles in Texas, we examined data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on six jobs commonly held by those with a DNP — nurse practitioner, registered nurse, nurse anesthetist, nurse administrator, nurse midwife and postsecondary nursing professor. Let’s break down what salaries can be expected across Texas in these six roles.
Three of the six DNP jobs have six-figure wages in Texas, led by nurse anesthetists, who enjoy an average annual wage in Texas of more than $167,000. The lowest average annual wage, for postsecondary nursing instructors, is just over $66,000. While this pales in comparison to some other DNP wages, it’s well above the overall average wage in the state, which is about $50,000.
How Much Does a DNP Make in Texas?
The average salary ranges from $66,190 to $167,020 in Texas.
Average annual Texas salary
| Nurse Anesthetists | $167,020.00 |
| Nurse Practitioners | $115,440.00 |
| Nurse Administrators | $107,880.00 |
| Nurse Midwives | $92,560.00 |
| Registered Nurses | $74,540.00 |
| Postsecondary Nursing Instructors | $66,190.00 |
In Texas, as in the rest of the country, registered nurse jobs are by far the most common type of DNP job. No other role comes close, though both nurse administrators and nurse practitioners are well above the three other jobs on the list. Texas is in keeping with other states when it comes to the concentration of these jobs in the overall economy
Texas employment per 1,000 jobs
| Registered Nurses | 17.544 |
| Nurse Administrators | 2.681 |
| Nurse Practitioners | 1.096 |
| Postsecondary Nursing Instructors | 0.347 |
| Nurse Anesthetists | 0.346 |
| Nurse Midwives | 0.043 |
Wage and employment data is available for a couple dozen of the biggest cities and metro areas in the state of Texas, and average wages across all six jobs are at their highest point in Abilene, where the six jobs average out to nearly $118,000. But four other areas have average DNP wages that also reach into the six figures.
Average salary by city, top 5
| Abilene | $117,937.50 |
| Tyler | $115,052.50 |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land | $113,113.33 |
| Longview | $106,932.50 |
| McAllen-Edinburg-Mission | $106,447.50 |
Jump to a Career
- Nurse Practitioner
- Registered Nurse
- Nurse Administrator
- Post Secondary Nurse Instructor
- Nurse Anesthetist
- Nurse Midwife
Texas Nurse Practitioner
It’s most common for those who earn a DNP degree to become nurse practitioners, and in Texas, as in the rest of the U.S., these professionals can perform many of the same functions as a physician. However, Texas is one of a handful of states to place aggressive practice restrictions on NPs. Despite these limitations, NP jobs across Texas are very well-paying.
Average annual nurse practitioner wage by city/metro area, top 10
| Abilene | $132,740.00 |
| Brownsville-Harlingen | $127,680.00 |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land | $124,960.00 |
| Midland | $119,160.00 |
| Texarkana | $115,260.00 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | $115,190.00 |
| San Angelo | $114,630.00 |
| Beaumont-Port Arthur | $114,280.00 |
| Laredo | $114,250.00 |
| Wichita Falls | $114,160.00 |
NP roles are most common in the Killeen-Temple metro area, with Lubbock and Amarillo not far behind. None of the metro areas for which data is available have higher rates of NP employment than the state overall.
Nurse practitioner employment per 1,000 jobs by city/metro area, top 10
| Killeen-Temple | 2.068 |
| Lubbock | 1.976 |
| Amarillo | 1.945 |
| Wichita Falls | 1.778 |
| Abilene | 1.543 |
| San Angelo | 1.456 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels | 1.419 |
| Longview | 1.256 |
| Tyler | 1.188 |
| Texarkana | 1.18 |
Texas Registered Nurse
Registered nurse jobs don’t usually require a DNP, but many people who earn this degree will go on to seek jobs as RNs, or they may find employment as Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs), which makes this among the most common nursing jobs in the U.S. and in Texas. Within the state, the Houston metro area has the highest average annual wage, and several areas of the state make their way into the top 10.
Average annual registered nurse wage by city/metro area, top 10
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land | $81,350.00 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | $76,740.00 |
| El Paso | $74,380.00 |
| Laredo | $73,750.00 |
| McAllen-Edinburg-Mission | $73,320.00 |
| Brownsville-Harlingen | $72,780.00 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels | $72,410.00 |
| Austin-Round Rock | $72,170.00 |
| Killeen-Temple | $71,460.00 |
| College Station-Bryan | $70,980.00 |
Several cities and metro areas across the state beat out the overall Texas rate for RN employment. In fact, where these jobs are most common, in the Sherman-Denison metro area, the employment rate for RNs is more than double the rate for all of Texas.
Registered nurse employment per 1,000 jobs by city/metro area, top 10
| Sherman-Denison | 36.49 |
| Tyler | 35.933 |
| Victoria | 31.442 |
| San Angelo | 26.298 |
| Lubbock | 25.718 |
| Longview | 24.648 |
| Abilene | 24.463 |
| Wichita Falls | 24.252 |
| Killeen-Temple | 24.031 |
| Amarillo | 22.585 |
Texas Nurse Administrator
Many senior nurses or younger nurses with an interest in administration may pursue advanced degrees in the field as a bridge to leadership positions, such as nurse administrator roles. DNP graduates who seek this type of work will likely find jobs that are heavy on the responsibilities, but wages are typically commensurate with this challenging role. Several cities and metro areas in Texas offer average nurse administrator wages that are even higher than the state’s average, with the Waco area having an average annual salary of nearly $124,000.
Average annual nurse administrator wage by city/metro area, top 10
| Waco | $123,900.00 |
| Killeen-Temple | $118,250.00 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels | $115,470.00 |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land | $114,140.00 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | $108,540.00 |
| Austin-Round Rock | $107,220.00 |
| Abilene | $106,640.00 |
| Brownsville-Harlingen | $103,700.00 |
| Odessa | $102,590.00 |
| Midland | $102,200.00 |
Across the country, nurse administrator jobs are the second most common DNP role behind registered nurses. In Texas, each of the cities and metro areas in the top 10 for employment have higher rates for nurse administrator jobs than the state overall. Leading the way is the Killeen-Temple metro area, where nurse administrator employment rates are nearly twice the overall state rate.
Nurse administrator employment per 1,000 jobs by city/metro area, top 10
| Killeen-Temple | 5.306 |
| Victoria | 4.086 |
| Tyler | 4.084 |
| Texarkana | 3.913 |
| Sherman-Denison | 3.844 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels | 3.259 |
| Abilene | 3.24 |
| Wichita Falls | 3.085 |
| Lubbock | 3.075 |
| El Paso | 3.035 |
Texas Postsecondary Nursing Instructor
The need for qualified healthcare professionals is well-known, and for many people who earn a DNP degree, it’s a natural fit to become a teacher. While postsecondary nursing instructors tend to have wages on the lower end of the scale nationally (this is also the lowest wage in Texas), wages are higher in a few Texas cities. Data for this role was unavailable for several metro areas in the state, but among cities for which metrics were published, nursing instructors can expect to reach their earnings peak in the Houston metro area.
Average annual postsecondary nursing instructor wage by city/metro area
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land | $80,220.00 |
| Austin-Round Rock | $77,870.00 |
| Laredo | $76,810.00 |
| Killeen-Temple | $62,890.00 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels | $62,620.00 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | $59,370.00 |
| Odessa | $57,690.00 |
| Amarillo | $56,770.00 |
| El Paso | $48,420.00 |
Postsecondary nursing instructor jobs are not exactly bountiful across the U.S. or in Texas. Odessa leads the state for instructor employment with a rate that’s nearly seven times higher than the rate for all of Texas. Amarillo’s rate of these jobs is also several times higher than that of the state.
Postsecondary nursing instructor employment per 1,000 jobs by city/metro area
| Odessa | 2.702 |
| Amarillo | 1.102 |
| Killeen-Temple | 0.491 |
| Laredo | 0.369 |
| Austin-Round Rock | 0.366 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | 0.249 |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land | 0.236 |
| El Paso | 0.224 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels | 0.162 |
Texas Nurse Anesthetist
Wages for nurse anesthetists are the highest among the six DNP jobs in every state, Texas included. A few cities and metro areas in the state offer even higher wages than the state overall, led by Tyler, where the average salary for this job is creeping up on $200,000. Data was not available for every city in Texas, though, so certain areas of the state actually offer lower wages for this role than the state overall, particularly Wichita Falls, where the average salary is only about $107,000.
Average annual nurse anesthetist wage by city/metro area
| Tyler | $192,450.00 |
| Longview | $177,070.00 |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land | $172,370.00 |
| Abilene | $166,230.00 |
| Killeen-Temple | $161,420.00 |
| McAllen-Edinburg-Mission | $154,670.00 |
| Corpus Christi | $150,960.00 |
| Wichita Falls | $107,240.00 |
Nurse anesthetist jobs are among the least common of all six DNP jobs we studied, and the same is true across Texas. Still, in every city or metro area for which data was available, these jobs can be found in a higher concentration than in the state as a whole, with Tyler’s rate being the highest.
Nurse anesthetist employment per 1,000 jobs by city/metro area
| Tyler | 1.231 |
| Killeen-Temple | 1.098 |
| Longview | 0.567 |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land | 0.469 |
Texas Nurse Midwife
In DNP educational programs, it’s very common to find a specialty track in midwifery, or assisting pregnant people through the process, including labor and after they’ve given birth. Given their central role in such a delicate and important part of life, nurse midwives generally enjoy high wages. Their average in Texas is just over $92,000. Data is available for only two metro areas in the state, with Houston’s average wage for nurse midwives being the higher of the two. Sufficient data was not available to make comparisons of employment rates in Texas cities.
Average annual nurse midwife wage by city/metro area
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land | $105,640.00 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | $85,720.00 |
Conclusion
This year has tested America’s healthcare system in unprecedented ways, often revealing shortfalls and problems that weren’t so obvious even a year ago. While the long-term impacts of the coronavirus will continue to unfold over the next several years and beyond, given that Texas already was in the midst of a healthcare employment crisis, the need for DNP graduates in the state is likely to remain high. Fortunately for them, they’re also likely to see compensation that reflects their advanced training and level of responsibility.
Sources
Our analysis of BLS data covered a total of six jobs that are commonly available after earning a DNP degree. We used the May 2019 data, which was first made available in April 2020.