Lowest Paying Jobs in Texas 2025 – Wages, Sectors & Outlook

Step inside a roadside café in Texas before sunrise. The fryers are already snapping, coffee pots gurgle, and a cook works the line half-awake. By the end of the day, the paycheck will still look small against rent and gas prices. For many Texans, that’s not a story, it’s their week. The lowest paying jobs in Texas in 2025 paint a plain but harsh picture of work that keeps the state running without paying enough to live comfortably.

Some of these jobs cross over with lists like the top 10 worst jobs in the world or even those connected to the 10 most useless university degrees. That overlap says plenty. People study, train, or sweat in these roles, yet wages remain stubbornly low.

Lowest Paying Jobs in Texas 2025

Rank	Job Title	Average Annual Pay
1	Fast Food Cook	$23,800
2	Dishwasher	$24,100
3	Farm Laborer	$24,500
4	Parking Lot Attendant	$25,200
5	Hotel Housekeeper	$25,600
6	Laundry Worker	$26,100
7	Cashier	$26,400
8	Janitor	$26,900
9	Retail Sales Associate	$27,100
10	Childcare Worker	$27,600
11	Restaurant Host	$27,800
12	Home Health Aide	$28,200
13	Amusement Park Attendant	$28,500
14	Movie Theater Usher	$28,700
15	Barista	$29,000

1. Fast Food Cook

Grease burns, constant orders, and aching feet. Even with years on the job, the paycheck barely nudges past the lowest rung.

2. Dishwasher

Piles of plates, wet shoes, steam fogging glasses. Nights end late, paychecks stay flat.

3. Farm Laborer

Sun beats down by 10 a.m., soil dust clings to skin. Long days, little pay.

4. Parking Lot Attendant

Hours outdoors, tickets and keys in hand. Summer heat on asphalt makes the work harder than the pay suggests, one of the hardest jobs.

5. Hotel Housekeeper

Carts full of linens, deadlines between checkout and check-in. Rooms spotless, yet wages remain near the floor.

6. Laundry Worker

Machines rumble, detergents sting the air. Hours fold into one another, but not into bigger paychecks.

7. Cashier

The scanner beeps nonstop, customers shuffle forward, lines never end. The money earned rings smaller than the groceries being sold.

8. Janitor

Empty buildings, trash bags, and mops. Quiet work that few notice. Pay doesn’t notice either.

9. Retail Sales Associate

Clothes folded, shelves stacked again and again. Feet hurt by closing time, and the discount barely softens the wage gap.

10. Childcare Worker

Children need constant care, energy, and patience. Pay stays far below the weight of responsibility.

11. Restaurant Host

Smiles at the door, long waitlists to juggle, occasional angry customer. A stressful shift with wages that don’t reflect it.

12. Home Health Aide

Trips across town, helping with meals, medicine, or bathing. Gas money eats away at already slim earnings.

13. Amusement Park Attendant

Crowds swarm in the summer heat. Hours are long, jobs are seasonal, and the paycheck looks temporary too.

14. Movie Theater Usher

Sticky floors, popcorn tubs, ticket stubs. Busy weekends bring bigger crowds, not bigger wages.

15. Barista

Steam hisses, orders fly, cups pile up. Tips help, but base pay stays low while rents climb.

What to Expect in Texas Job Market?

Looking ahead, many of these jobs won’t disappear, but the pay likely won’t jump either. Automation creeps in with self-checkouts and kiosks, cutting cashier and host positions. Parking lots lean on machines instead of people. On the other hand, demand for childcare workers, housekeepers, and aides stays strong. Still, “demand” hasn’t translated to real raises.

Workers often patch together multiple jobs, side hustles, or gig apps. That means long weeks, little rest, and constant worry about bills. Texas boasts tech growth, oil jobs, and corporate expansions, but the service and labor jobs remain stuck. For most workers in these roles, the way out is not waiting for wages to rise. It’s short-term training, certification programs, or community college. Without that, the cycle repeats year after year.

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