What Animal Caretakers earn in Fort Bend County, TX
The median pay for Animal Caretakers in Fort Bend County, TX is $30,930 per year, which works out to $14.87 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 Fort Bend 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 $34,630, which is 12.0% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 4,650 people working in this occupation across the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Fort Bend County, TX has roughly 893,767 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Animal Caretakers in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $22,810 a year ($10.97 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $47,990 or more ($23.07 an hour). That is a gap of $25,180 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $27,980 at the 25th percentile and $38,010 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
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $14.87 an hour or $30,930 a year at the median for Fort Bend County, TX. Before any deductions, that is $2,578 a month, $1,190 every two weeks and $595 each week. After taxes the same job pays $12.97 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Animal Caretakers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Animal Caretakers this way: "Feed, water, groom, bathe, exercise, or otherwise provide care to promote and maintain the well-being of pets and other animals that are not raised for consumption, such as dogs, cats, race horses, ornamental fish or birds, zoo animals, and mice. Work in settings such as kennels, animal shelters, zoos, circuses, and aquariums. May keep records of feedings, treatments, and animals received or discharged. May clean, disinfect, and repair cages, pens, or fish tanks."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Feed and water animals according to schedules and feeding instructions"; "Answer telephones and schedule appointments"; "Examine and observe animals to detect signs of illness, disease, or injury"; "Respond to questions from patrons, and provide information about animals, such as behavior, habitat, breeding habits, or facility activities".
Job outlook for Animal Caretakers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 365,300 jobs in 2025 to 409,400 in 2035, a change of +12.1%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 62,800 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 17.2% of current employment each year. About 24.8% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $35,360 for this occupation; the Fort Bend County, TX median of $30,930 is 12.5% below it.
How pay in Fort Bend County, TX compares
Compared with the Texas average
Pay in Fort Bend County, TX runs $1,402 below the Texas average of $32,332, a gap of 4.3%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of Texas would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within Texas, the highest median we track for this job is $34,310 in Dallas County, TX.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Animal Caretakers is $33,969 across the contiguous United States. At $30,930, Fort Bend County, TX pays $3,039 less, which is 8.9% 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 Fort Bend County, TX
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Fort Bend County, TX, Animal Caretakers ranks number 586 by median pay, ahead of about 5% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $172,160 a year, which is $141,230 more than the median for Animal Caretakers.
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 Animal Caretakers earning the Fort Bend County, TX median of $30,930, they add up to $3,949. The result is $26,981 of take-home pay a year ($2,248 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $13 goes to taxes and $87 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 12.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $15,180. 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 $1,583, an effective 5.1% 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 $1,918 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $448. FICA totals $2,366, 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 Animal Caretakers in Fort Bend 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 $1,547 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $129 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Fort Bend County, TX
IRS Statistics of Income data for Fort Bend County, TX show an average adjusted gross income of $109,227 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 15.1% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.9%, compared with the 5.1% 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 Fort Bend County, TX
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Fort Bend County, TX: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $26,981 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Fort Bend 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 Animal Caretakers, a one-bedroom absorbs 56.1% of take-home pay and 48.9% 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 11.1% of gross pay for Animal Caretakers in Fort Bend 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 Fort Bend County, TX. Subtract that from $26,981 of take-home pay and $4,782 remains, which is $398 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 15.5% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Fort Bend County, TX
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Fort Bend 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 Fort Bend County, TX, set beside the Texas and national medians.
Property taxes in Fort Bend County, TX
Homeowners in Fort Bend County, TX pay a median of $6,965 a year in real estate taxes, 65% above the Texas median of $4,232 and 123% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $374,500, the median tax bill is 1.86% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Animal Caretakers median of $30,930, a tax bill of that size would equal 22.5% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Fort Bend County, TX
Renters in Fort Bend County, TX pay a median gross rent of $1,807 a month in the Census survey, 29% 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 $374,500, 32% above the Texas median of $283,800. Median household income is $114,041, 45% above the Texas median of $78,476, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 13.3% of that income.
Commuting in Fort Bend County, TX
Workers in Fort Bend County, TX who travel to a workplace spend an average of 32.7 minutes each way, 22% above the Texas average of 26.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 17.7% of workers in Fort Bend County, TX work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Animal Caretakers afford to live in Fort Bend 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 $30,930 that ceiling is $773 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,261 is $488 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 Animal Caretakers is $14.87, which is 39% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $12.97 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 22.4 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 $10,932.
How fast you can save
At $398 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 26 months (2.2 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 52 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Animal Caretakers pay in Fort Bend County, TX
How much do Animal Caretakers make per hour in Fort Bend County, TX?
The median is $14.87 per hour, based on $30,930 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $10.97 at the 10th percentile to $23.07 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Animal Caretakers take home after taxes in Fort Bend County, TX?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $30,930 becomes $26,981 a year. That is $2,248 a month, $1,038 every two weeks or $519 a week.
How much tax do Animal Caretakers pay in Fort Bend County, TX?
Total taxes are $3,949 a year, an effective rate of 12.8%: $1,583 federal income tax, $2,366 FICA and no Texas income tax.
Do Animal Caretakers earn more in Fort Bend County, TX than elsewhere in Texas?
No. The local median of $30,930 is -4.3% versus the Texas average of $32,332, a difference of $1,402 a year.
Can Animal Caretakers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Fort Bend County, TX?
A one-bedroom costs $1,261 a month against take-home pay of $2,248, which is 56.1% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $773 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Animal Caretakers in Fort Bend County, TX?
About $398 a month ($4,782 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 Fort Bend 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 Animal Caretakers is $14.87.
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.