What Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists earn in Travis County, TX
According to the latest federal wage data for the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metropolitan area, the median pay for Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists in Travis County, TX is $80,460 a year, or $38.68 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare (and no state income tax), the paycheck shrinks to $65,155 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Travis County, TX.
The mean wage is $89,840, which is 11.7% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,270 people working in this occupation across the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Travis County, TX has roughly 1,330,015 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $44,990 a year ($21.63 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $152,160 or more ($73.15 an hour). That is a gap of $107,170 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $60,560 at the 25th percentile and $104,280 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 3.4 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: $38.68 an hour or $80,460 a year at the median for Travis County, TX. Before any deductions, that is $6,705 a month, $3,095 every two weeks and $1,547 each week. After taxes the same job pays $31.32 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists this way: "Research conditions in local, regional, national, or online markets. Gather information to determine potential sales of a product or service, or plan a marketing or advertising campaign. May gather information on competitors, prices, sales, and methods of marketing and distribution. May employ search marketing tactics, analyze web metrics, and develop recommendations to increase search engine ranking and visibility to target markets."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Collect and analyze data on customer demographics, preferences, needs, and buying habits to identify potential markets and factors affecting product demand"; "Prepare reports of findings, illustrating data graphically and translating complex findings into written text"; "Measure and assess customer and employee satisfaction"; "Forecast and track marketing and sales trends, analyzing collected data".
Job outlook for Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 952,700 jobs in 2025 to 1,019,000 in 2035, a change of +7%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 82,000 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 8.6% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $78,760 for this occupation; the Travis County, TX median of $80,460 is 2.2% above it.
How pay in Travis County, TX compares
Compared with the Texas average
A worker in this occupation in Travis County, TX earns $9,985 more than the Texas average of $70,475, a premium of 14.2%. Over a year that premium is worth $9,985 before tax and roughly $8,086 after tax. Within Texas, Travis County, TX already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists is $81,560 across the contiguous United States. At $80,460, Travis County, TX pays $1,100 less, which is 1.4% 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 Travis County, TX
Among the 528 occupations with published wages in Travis County, TX, Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists ranks number 144 by median pay, ahead of about 73% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $176,990 a year, which is $96,530 more than the median for Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists.
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 Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists earning the Travis County, TX median of $80,460, they add up to $15,305. The result is $65,155 of take-home pay a year ($5,430 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $19 goes to taxes and $81 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $64,710. 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 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $9,150, an effective 11.4% of gross pay, well below the 22% 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 $4,989 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,167. FICA totals $6,155, 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 Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists in Travis 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 $4,023 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $335 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Travis County, TX
IRS Statistics of Income data for Travis County, TX show an average adjusted gross income of $150,791 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 19.2% across all filers. Filers in the $75,000 to under $100,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 10.6%, compared with the 11.4% 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 Travis County, TX
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Travis County, TX: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $65,155 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Travis County, TX, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,530 a month ($18,360 a year), and at $1,817 for two bedrooms. For Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists, a one-bedroom absorbs 28.2% of take-home pay and 22.8% 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 4.3% of gross pay for Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists in Travis 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 $25,427 a year in Travis County, TX. Subtract that from $65,155 of take-home pay and $39,727 remains, which is $3,311 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 49.4% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Travis County, TX
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Travis 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 Travis County, TX, set beside the Texas and national medians.
Property taxes in Travis County, TX
Homeowners in Travis County, TX pay a median of $7,727 a year in real estate taxes, 83% above the Texas median of $4,232 and 148% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $523,000, the median tax bill is 1.48% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists median of $80,460, a tax bill of that size would equal 9.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Travis County, TX
Renters in Travis County, TX pay a median gross rent of $1,744 a month in the Census survey, 24% 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 $1,530 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 $523,000, 84% above the Texas median of $283,800. Median household income is $99,611, 27% above the Texas median of $78,476, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 18.4% of that income.
Commuting in Travis County, TX
Workers in Travis County, TX who travel to a workplace spend an average of 25.2 minutes each way, 6% below the Texas average of 26.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 30.2% of workers in Travis County, TX work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists afford to live in Travis 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 $80,460 that ceiling is $2,012 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,530 is $482 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.42 an hour; the median for Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists is $38.68, which is 31% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $31.32 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 11.3 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,817 a month means $909 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,458 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $47,185.
How fast you can save
At $3,311 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 4 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 8 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists pay in Travis County, TX
How much do Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists make per hour in Travis County, TX?
The median is $38.68 per hour, based on $80,460 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $21.63 at the 10th percentile to $73.15 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists take home after taxes in Travis County, TX?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $80,460 becomes $65,155 a year. That is $5,430 a month, $2,506 every two weeks or $1,253 a week.
How much tax do Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists pay in Travis County, TX?
Total taxes are $15,305 a year, an effective rate of 19.0%: $9,150 federal income tax, $6,155 FICA and no Texas income tax.
Do Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists earn more in Travis County, TX than elsewhere in Texas?
Yes. The local median of $80,460 is +14.2% versus the Texas average of $70,475, a difference of $9,985 a year.
Can Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists afford a one-bedroom apartment in Travis County, TX?
A one-bedroom costs $1,530 a month against take-home pay of $5,430, which is 28.2% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $2,012 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists in Travis County, TX?
About $3,311 a month ($39,727 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $25,427 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Travis County, TX at the 30% guideline?
$29.42 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,360 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists is $38.68.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, 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.