What Correctional Officers and Jailers earn in Brazoria County, TX
According to the latest federal wage data for the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area, the median pay for Correctional Officers and Jailers in Brazoria County, TX is $53,810 a year, or $25.87 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare (and no state income tax), the paycheck shrinks to $45,365 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Brazoria County, TX.
The mean wage is $54,350, which is 1.0% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 8,650 people working in this occupation across the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Brazoria County, TX has roughly 391,255 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Correctional Officers and Jailers in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $47,660 a year ($22.91 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $58,620 or more ($28.18 an hour). That is a gap of $10,960 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $48,880 at the 25th percentile and $57,330 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.2 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 Correctional Officers and Jailers in Brazoria County, TX is $25.87. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $53,810, and the same salary is $4,484 a month before taxes or about $2,070 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $21.81 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Correctional Officers and Jailers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Correctional Officers and Jailers this way: "Guard inmates in penal or rehabilitative institutions in accordance with established regulations and procedures. May guard prisoners in transit between jail, courtroom, prison, or other point. Includes deputy sheriffs and police who spend the majority of their time guarding prisoners in correctional institutions."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Guard facility entrances to screen visitors"; "Inspect mail for the presence of contraband"; "Take prisoners into custody and escort to locations within and outside of facility, such as visiting room, courtroom, or airport"; "Use weapons, handcuffs, and physical force to maintain discipline and order among prisoners".
Job outlook for Correctional Officers and Jailers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 397,800 jobs in 2025 to 368,200 in 2035, a change of -7.4%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 28,400 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 7.1% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $58,940 for this occupation; the Brazoria County, TX median of $53,810 is 8.7% below it.
How pay in Brazoria County, TX compares
Compared with the Texas average
Brazoria County, TX pays above the state benchmark. The Texas employment-weighted average for Correctional Officers and Jailers is $52,887; the local median of $53,810 beats it by $923, or 1.8%. Within Texas, Brazoria County, TX already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Correctional Officers and Jailers is $62,674 across the contiguous United States. At $53,810, Brazoria County, TX pays $8,864 less, which is 14.1% 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 Brazoria County, TX
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Brazoria County, TX, Correctional Officers and Jailers ranks number 338 by median pay, ahead of about 45% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $172,160 a year, which is $118,350 more than the median for Correctional Officers and Jailers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $53,810 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 $8,445 a year, which leaves $45,365, or $3,780 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 15.7%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $38,060. 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 $4,329, an effective 8.0% 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 $3,336 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $780. FICA totals $4,116, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Texas
There is no state income tax on wages in Texas, which means Correctional Officers and Jailers in Brazoria County, TX keep the full $45,365 left after federal and payroll taxes. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $2,691 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $224 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Brazoria County, TX
IRS Statistics of Income data for Brazoria County, TX show an average adjusted gross income of $89,509 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.6% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 6.6%, compared with the 8.0% 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 Brazoria County, TX
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Brazoria County, TX: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $45,365 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Brazoria County, TX is $1,212 a month, or $14,544 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,319 a month. For Correctional Officers and Jailers, a one-bedroom absorbs 32.1% of take-home pay and 27.0% 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 6.4% of gross pay for Correctional Officers and Jailers in Brazoria 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 $21,611 a year, 48% of take-home pay. That leaves $23,754 a year, or $1,979 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 44.1% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Brazoria County, TX
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Brazoria 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 Brazoria County, TX, set beside the Texas and national medians.
Property taxes in Brazoria County, TX
Homeowners in Brazoria County, TX pay a median of $5,001 a year in real estate taxes, 18% above the Texas median of $4,232 and 60% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $301,600, the median tax bill is 1.66% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Correctional Officers and Jailers median of $53,810, a tax bill of that size would equal 9.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Brazoria County, TX
Renters in Brazoria County, TX pay a median gross rent of $1,454 a month in the Census survey, 4% 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 $1,212 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 $301,600, 6% above the Texas median of $283,800. Median household income is $97,993, 25% above the Texas median of $78,476, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 14.8% of that income.
Commuting in Brazoria County, TX
Workers in Brazoria County, TX who travel to a workplace spend an average of 30.6 minutes each way, 15% above the Texas average of 26.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.1 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 10.8% of workers in Brazoria County, TX work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Correctional Officers and Jailers afford to live in Brazoria 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 $53,810 that ceiling is $1,345 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,212 is $133 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $23.31 an hour; the median for Correctional Officers and Jailers is $25.87, which is 11% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $21.81 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 12.8 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,319 a month means $660 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,630 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $30,384.
How fast you can save
At $1,979 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 6 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 12 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Correctional Officers and Jailers pay in Brazoria County, TX
What is the hourly wage for Correctional Officers and Jailers in Brazoria County, TX?
The median is $25.87 per hour, based on $53,810 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $22.91 at the 10th percentile to $28.18 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Correctional Officers and Jailers in Brazoria County, TX?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $53,810 becomes $45,365 a year. That is $3,780 a month, $1,745 every two weeks or $872 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Correctional Officers and Jailers in Brazoria County, TX?
Total taxes are $8,445 a year, an effective rate of 15.7%: $4,329 federal income tax, $4,116 FICA and no Texas income tax.
Is pay for Correctional Officers and Jailers in Brazoria County, TX above the Texas average?
Yes. The local median of $53,810 is +1.8% versus the Texas average of $52,887, a difference of $923 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Correctional Officers and Jailers salary in Brazoria County, TX?
A one-bedroom costs $1,212 a month against take-home pay of $3,780, which is 32.1% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,345 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Correctional Officers and Jailers in Brazoria County, TX?
About $1,979 a month ($23,754 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $21,611 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Brazoria County, TX at the 30% guideline?
$23.31 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $14,544 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Correctional Officers and Jailers is $25.87.
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.