Texas Nuclear jobs: 3,159 employed (2024)
As of the 2025 U.S. Energy & Employment Report, Texas employs 3,159 people in the nuclear sector — about 5.5% of the U.S. total. That makes Texas the 6th-largest state for nuclear jobs nationwide.
Nuclear Jobs in Texas (2024)
National share: 5.45% of all U.S. nuclear jobs.
Typical Median Wage
1. Employment Landscape
Texas ranks 6th out of 51 U.S. states in nuclear employment. At 3,159 workers, the state sits above the 25th-ranked Arkansas’s tally by 2,181 jobs, and trails the national leader South Carolina by 1,147 nuclear workers.
1.1 Texas’s position vs. the top 10 and median states
1.2 Share of U.S. total
The nuclear sector nationwide employs roughly 57,942 workers; Texas accounts for 3,159 of them.
1.3 Where Texas sits in its own mix
| Sector | Jobs (2024) | National rank |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Efficiency | 182,506 | #2 |
| Wind | 28,124 | #1 |
| Solar | 18,022 | #2 |
| Electric Vehicles | 9,490 | #2 |
| Storage & Grid | 9,455 | #3 |
| Nuclear | 3,159 | #6 |
| Hydropower | 2,788 | #6 |
| Clean Fuels | 1,188 | #4 |
1.4 Sub-sector breakdown in Texas
Every nuclear-related sub-category reported for Texas in the USEER workbook, ranked by employment.
2. Pay & Career Roles in Texas
Texas contributes 5.45% of the nation’s nuclear workforce. Within Texas’s own clean-energy economy, nuclear accounts for 1.2% of total clean-energy jobs (3,159 of 254,732 workers).
Cost-of-living in Texas is roughly 2.8% lower the U.S. average, so the state-adjusted median wage for nuclear roles in Texas is shown alongside the national BLS figure.
| Role | National median | Texas-adjusted | Job Zone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuclear Engineer | $122,480 | $119,051 | 4 |
| Nuclear Power Reactor Operator | $120,350 | $116,980 | 3 |
See all 2 nuclear occupations with national wages and skills →
4. Hiring Difficulty & Industry Mix
Texas employers rate 19.6% of clean-energy hires as “very difficult” (plus 29.9% as “somewhat difficult”) — on par with the ~22% national baseline. Combined, 49.5% of Texas’s clean-energy roles see some level of hiring friction.
4.1 Employer hiring difficulty
4.2 Jobs by NAICS industry group
| Industry (NAICS group) | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| Construction | 221,096 |
| Mining and Extraction | 198,839 |
| Manufacturing | 147,678 |
| Other Services | 117,127 |
| Professional Services | 93,706 |
| Trade | 85,200 |
| Utilities | 64,495 |
| Pipeline Transport & Commodity Flows | 59,331 |
| Agriculture and Forestry | 2,580 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Data source: U.S. Department of Energy — 2025 U.S. Energy & Employment Report (reflecting 2024 employment); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics; O*NET Occupation Database 29.1.
Last updated: April 2026.