Low wage scorecard
Texas
The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour for 13 years. But as of 2021, this wage had lost 21% of its value since the last raise in 2009. And millions of subminimum wage workers are stuck at even lower wages. In that time, the cost of living has continued to climb, leaving millions of families working harder than ever, but falling behind.
The Raise the Wage Act of 2021 would gradually raise the wage to $15 per hour by 2025 and eliminate subminimum wages. As of 2022, 51.9 million workers nationally–31.9 percent of the workforce–make less than $15 per hour. Here’s how raising wages and ending subminimum wages would benefit workers in Texas.
Workers who make less than $15 per hour
5,692,294 workers in Texas make less than $15 per hour.
Many states have decided not to wait for the federal government to raise the minimum wage and have taken it upon themselves to raise the wage. Texas has kept the same minimum wage.
Percentage of all workers making less than $15 per hour
Gender
Percentage of workers within each demographic earning less than $15 per hour
| Texas | US average | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working men | 2,477,379 | 31.9% | 21,121,952 | 24.7% |
| Working women | 3,214,914 | 49.2% | 30,802,707 | 39.9% |
Race/ethnicity and gender
Percentage of workers within each demographic earning less than $15 per hour
| White | |
| Black/African American | |
| Hispanic/Latinx | |
| Asian American and American Indian | |
| Women of color | |
| Men of color |
Family composition
When wages are lifted for workers, their families benefit, too. Millions of the workers who would benefit are parents, and a vast majority of single parents would benefit from the bump to $15 per hour.
Percentage of workers within each demographic earning less than $15 per hour
| Texas | US average | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single parents | 1,233,163 | 66.3% | 11,236,239 | 57.5% |
| Married parents | 860,121 | 23.6% | 6,068,482 | 16.0% |
| Working mothers | 1,246,845 | 49.9% | 10,909,799 | 40.2% |
| Working fathers | 846,438 | 28.1% | 6,394,922 | 21.1% |
Age
A common misperception is that many low-wage jobs are filled by teenagers who add little to the family’s income. The reality is that workers of every age would benefit from a universal wage of $15 per hour.
Percentage of workers within each demographic earning less than $15 per hour
| 16-24 years old | |
| 25-39 | |
| 40-54 | |
| 55+ |
Workers in Texas benefiting who are teenagers versus adults
| Teenagers | |
| Adults |
Notes
Data by state: While the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour since 2009, and at $2.13 per hour since 1991 for tipped wage workers, many states and cities have increased their minimum wages. As the wage floor rises in an area, it lifts wages for most workers.
These differences are reflected in the proportion of workers who make less than $15 per hour. For example, the minimum hourly wage in California is $15 as of 2022 for all workers in a company that has more than 26 employees. As a result, a smaller proportion of workers in that state make less than $15 per hour. California is also a state without a subminimum tipped wage, so tipped wage jobs pay the same minimum wage. And farmworkers are supposed to make the state minimum wage. Other states, like Mississippi, follow federal standards and as a result have a subminimum tipped wage of $2.13 per hour and do not extend minimum wage laws to farmworkers. For more information on state labor policies, including wages, visit oxfamamerica.org/statelabormap2021.
- This data is a reflection of what percentage, or number, of each demographic group makes less than $15 per hour. Oxfam data does not project workers who would benefit from a raise in the wage to $15 per hour beyond 2022. Our numbers appear higher than many peer estimates because this is a snapshot of 2022 and not a projection to a later date. Our numbers also include workers making a subminimum wage, including tipped workers.
Oxfam’s map includes all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. We use the term “state” to refer to all 52 states, districts, and territories.
* Oxfam data is sourced from the US Census, specifically the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) from the American Community Survey (ACS), and follows its racial/ethnic classification. For gender, respondents to the survey self-identify their sex as either male or female. And for race/ethnicity, respondents can choose between “Asian American or Other Pacific Islander,” “Black or African American,” “American Indian or Alaskan Native,” or “Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin”. Whiteness is typically measured by those who check “White” in the racial box and “Not of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin” in the ethnicity box. This data is also a reflection of what people self-report as their income, their age, and their familial status (whether or not they are parents).
Sources
The Oxfam Minimum Wage Model sources microdata from the 5-year Census American Community Survey (ACS-PUMS), and employs Current Population Survey (CPS-ORG) March 2021 data as formatted and made available by CEPR.
We use American Community Survey data to gather wages, demographics, and household data. We calculate wages by self-reported income, number of weeks worked, and expected hours per week. This model allows us to observe those locked out of federal minimum wage guarantees either by their exclusion or the practice of wage theft. We take at face value the income reported by the individuals themselves. We project 2020 5-year ACS data into 2022; this includes assumptions about demographic shifts using existing models. Our methodology is based on the need for a universal minimum wage. For more, see our report.